Paper Mario: The Shadow Captor
by Random Mexican Guy
Summary: Chapter 15: The Waffle Pit Tournament's second round starts! Join Mario, Luigi, Goombella, Vivian, Bow, Peach, Yoshi, Parakarry, Kooper & Toadette in their adventure while they solve tricky puzzles, fight creepy villains and follow the captor's clues!
1. A Disturbing Dinner

Chapter 1: A Disturbing Dinner

It was a normal day in the Mushroom Kingdom. The morning sun shined over the well-cared gardens of the Mushroom Castle, giving it even a more beautiful look. Princess Peach was looking at them amazed from the window of her room.

"Mhmm… it looks like a beautiful morning" she said distractingly. She stood up from her bed and went to the big mirror in the wall. She grabbed a comb that was in her night table and started combing her magnificent golden hair in a careful manner. She then examined herself in the mirror; she smiled at the sight. A stunning beautiful young princess of about nineteen years returned her the smile. "Perfect" she said approving her now combed hair.

She went out of her room and went downstairs to one of the dinning rooms. As she entered the room she saw Toadsworth, Peach's steward, eating calmly in the big wooden table.

"Oh, good morning Your Highness! Did you sleep well?" Toadsworth said animatedly. He stood up and made a reverence before continuing eating his fried eggs.

"Yea, thanks Toadsworth" she said smiling. She sat down on a wooden chair opposite to Toadsworth to face him. "What about you?"

"Fine, as always" said the old steward.

In that, a Toad entered the room carrying a tray with food. He placed the tray slowly in front of Peach, and then he made a reverence for her just as Toadsworth did and left.

"You know," she said, pausing to drink some orange juice from her glass, "I was planning to invite Mario and Luigi over for dinner".

"Splendid idea Princess Peach," Toadsworth said in a mannered tone, "I will send them an invitation right away". And with that, he drank the juice left from his glass, and departed immediately through one of the doors.

* * *

Meanwhile, a few miles away, two brothers were having breakfast in a small wooden table. 

"So, how is Princess Daisy, bro?" one of the brothers said. He was a young man with a thick mustache, wearing a set of red clothes and blue overalls.

"Fine, thanks for asking bro. She is having a relaxing vacation in the Pudding Country" the other brother said. Unlike his brother who was medium sized, he was very tall, but thinner. He wore the same set of clothes as his brother, but in a green version, with the same blue overalls and the same bushy mustache.

"Oh, sounds like she is having fun" The red-wearing brother said while picking some of his food with his fork.

"Yea," the green-wearing brother said. Suddenly he remembered something, "Oh, brother I forgot to tell you! I found this new recipe on the newspaper about a delicious Peachy Tart which you can obtain by mixing a Peachy Peach and a…"

The red-wearing brother rolled his eyes. His brother had excellent culinary talents, that was for sure, but he was quite obsessed with it that when he started talking about it he was unstoppable. He looked boringly through the window beside him. After a few minutes, his brother finally stopped.

"…and that is how you obtain the delicious Peachy Tart" he finished looking rather excited. "I can't wait to prepare some for dinner!"

"That's cool, bro" said the red-wearing brother, pretending to be half-excited that his brother was.

"Mail call!" a sudden voice called from outside.

"I'll go," the red-wearing brother said. He stood up and went outside the small house.

"Hi, Mario!" said the mail Paratroopa to the red-wearing brother while flapping his wings in midair. The reason why he, being a mailman, acted so cordially to Mario was because they had once gone together on an adventure to save the Mushroom Kingdom in the past.

"Hi there, Parakarry," Mario greeted the Paratroopa.

"Today there's three letters, one for you, two for Mr. Luigi" Parakarry said in a business tone.

"OK, thanks" Mario said. He approached Parakarry to receive the three letters from him.

"Until then!" Parakarry called waving a hand to Mario while flying away.

Mario returned back inside the house. Luigi had already finished his breakfast and was washing the dishes in a small sink.

"Luigi, there's two letters for you" Mario said to his brother.

Luigi stopped doing his work and approached Mario. He smiled as he recognized the letter from his subscribing magazine titled "Best Recipes". He couldn't help noticing that the other letter for him looked exactly as the one Mario received; the same soft pink color and the same decorations in the border.

"Mhmm…" said Mario thoughtfully, "I think these," he said grabbing the two identical letters, "are from Princess Peach". Mario started opening the one that was addressed to him and read:

_Dear Mr. Mario,_

_Our Highness, Princess Peach, has invited you cordially to assist for dinner at the castle. We await for your arrival at 6:00 P.M. so please kindly come to our castle at the time said._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Peach's steward,  
Toadsworth_

"Yep, I was right" said Mario triumphantly, "It's an invitation from Princess Peach to assist her castle for dinner. I think yours is the same. Mind if I check yours?"

"Not at all," said Luigi looking at his wet hands, "I can't read it right now even if I wanted to".

"OK" said Mario. He grabbed Luigi's letter and opened it. "Yep, it's the same".

"So, it looks like we have to assist" Luigi said.

"Yep," Mario said, "and it looks that you won't be able to prepare your _delicious_ Peachy Tart for dinner" he smiled broadly and then chuckled. Luigi's face went a brightly red.

* * *

When a sunset was clearly visible in the horizon over the mountains, Mario and Luigi knocked the big doors of the entrance of the Mushroom Castle. They heard some steps approaching on the other side of the door, and after a few seconds, Toadsworth opened the doors for them. 

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," Toadsworth said in an elderly voice. "Please step inside".

As Luigi and Mario stepped inside, some servant Toads closed the big doors. Toadsworth led the pair of brothers through several doors until they finally reached the Guests Dinning Room. Peach was sitting calmly in one of the several chairs around the magnificent table. As she saw the pair led by Toadsworth she immediately walked to them to greet them.

"Mario! Luigi! I'm glad you came!" Peach said in an energetic voice. She approached Mario and gave him a kiss in each cheek and then did the same thing to Luigi. "Please take a seat".

She then turned to Toadsworth, "You may leave, Toadsworth. Thanks for bringing our guests".

"It was no problem Your Highness" he said bowing as he did that morning. "I'm going to take a bath if you don't mind". And with that, he left through the door closing it with a small cracking sound.

Mario, Luigi and Peach started chatting. After a few minutes, several chef Toads entered with all kinds of foods and dishes ever imaginable. At the end of the fest, Luigi couldn't keep talking about how delicious the food was.

"Really, completely amazing!" Luigi said for fifth time, "the food was astounding delicious!"

"C'mon bro, get over it" said Mario joking.

"If you liked it so badly, would you like to go to the kitchens and ask the chef Toads for the recipes?" Peach asked smiling.

Luigi's reaction was hard to explain. He looked as if Peach had just told him that he had won one million Mushroom Coins. "For real?" he asked looking excited. Mario, who was eating a piece of Stardust Cake, choked a bit while he was trying to laugh.

"For real" Peach said resisting herself not to chuckle too. "Toad!" she called.

Quickly a Toad had appeared at the door. "Yes, Your Highness?" he asked.

"Please do me a favor to take Mr. Luigi here to the kitchens and gave him all the recipes of today's fest" she ordered.

"As you wish, Your Majesty" the Toad approached Luigi, "Please follow me, sir".

Luigi instantly stood up and followed the Toad looking as if he were on heaven. Now only Mario and Peach were left in the room.

For some reason, Mario was looking very nervous. Peach noticed it and stared at him. When Mario noticed she was staring at him, his cheeks flushed red.

"Mario…? Are you okay?" Peach asked a bit worried.

"Mhmm? Oh, yes, yes, I'm fine…" he answered nervously. He drank a gulp of water before saying: "I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh," she said turning red too, "well, go ahead, what is it?"

"I…" Mario started saying but suddenly the door burst open. A scared-looking Toad stepped inside.

"Princess Peach! Something…something awful has happened!" he exclaimed.

"What is it?" Peach said starting to worry," Speak up!"

"It's Toadsworth…he… he has been kidnapped!" he said very scared.

Without saying a word, Peach quickly went out of the room and started running up the big marble staircase that led to the second floor. Mario immediately followed her upstairs. He had no clue where she had gone. After a few moments, she found her; she was in the Jacuzzi Room.

As Mario entered, he was astonished of the look in front of him. The water flooded the bathtub completely, as all the pipe wrenches were open. Several pieces of shattered glass were floating in the water. Mario looked up; the window was completely broken. It seemed that the captor used it to escape. It was too much for Peach to see; she fainted making a dull sound when she hit the floor. Suddenly Luigi arrived from behind.

"What has happened?" he asked innocent-looking, "Did I missed something?"


	2. Loyal Partners

**Here is the second chapter.**

Chapter 2: Loyal Partners

"How it exactly happened?" Peach heard Mario saying.

"I entered the Jacuzzi Room to give some towels to Toadsworth, but when I entered I saw a shady character holding Toadsworth and disappeared with him through the window. All stood so fast…" she heard a Toad said.

Peach opened her eyes slowly; everything looked so blurry. She was lying in bed in her bedroom. Suddenly she noticed that someone was holding her hand. Mario focused into view and she smiled.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Fine, I think," she said.

Luigi entered the room holding a paper in his hand. Mario immediately let go Peach's hand.

"Hey take a look at this!" Luigi said showing the piece of paper to his brother, "it was pasted in the wall of the Jacuzzi Room…"

Mario unfolded the crumpled paper and read it out loud:

"_Its name is square  
b__ut its sides are six.  
You need to be lucky  
t__o triumph in here."_

"It looks like a puzzle to me" Peach said thinking.

"Maybe," Luigi said just as thoughtful as Peach, "I think… I think this indicates where Toadsworth is being held captive".

"But to do so, I think we need to solve this riddle first" Peach added.

"Oh darn…" said Mario peering through the window. Daylight was nowhere to be found anymore, the night had arrived with all its might, plus a heavy, thick rain was falling over the kingdom. "It will be very difficult to get back home".

"Oh, do not worry about that, Mario" Peach said instantly, "I'm sure there's place for you two in the castle; you can stay here tonight".

"Oh, thanks" Mario and Luigi replied exactly at the same time. Both looked at each other with a you-stole-my-words look. Peach merely chuckled.

"Toad," she said directing to the Toad standing at the door, "do me a favor and prepare two rooms for Mr. Mario and Mr. Luigi".

Without replying, the Toad instantly left the room.

* * *

Several hours passed, Peach could stand in her two feet now, and she looked much healthier. Still, she told Mario and Luigi that she needed some time alone, so the pair left when she told them so. Both of them were playing ping-pong several floors below Peach's room at the moment.

"Do you think Bowser is behind this, bro?" Luigi asked Mario while smashing the ball.

"Na, I don't think so," Mario said returning the ball easily. "It doesn't seem Bowser's style of kidnapping".

"Yea, I think you are right, bro" Luigi said. He lunged left to barely return the ball.

"Have you resolved the riddle, bro?" Mario asked Luigi while he smacked the ball into Luigi's field.

"Not yet bro, it's quite puzzling…" Luigi answered while he returned the ball in a magnificent backhand. "I think we must find a person capable of solving it, someone very smart…"

"Yea…" said Mario. Something in those words made him got into sense. Yea of course, how could he have forgotten something too obvious?

Bam! The ball smacked Mario right into his face.

"Oh, damn!" Luigi exclaimed, he ran forward to Mario, "Bro, are you okay?"

"Whua…? Oh, yes I'm all right. I was just a little distracted…" he said while sobbing his nose, "Listen I need to deliver a letter right now, seeya bro!"

And with that, Mario ran out of the room, leaving Luigi dumbfounded with the racket in his hand.

Mario sat down on a chair in front of a computer in his temporary room. He revised the letter he had just written several times. "Yeah, is fine this way" he thought. He then clicked "Send" in the computer.

* * *

Next morning, Mario and Luigi were awaked by some servant Toads knocking their doors telling them breakfast was ready. Before going downstairs, Mario checked his mail; he had received the reply he was hoping for:

"_Dear Mario,_

_Hope you are doing okay over there._

_I'm sorry for what happened to Toadsworth, you know that I will do anything in my power to help you. About the riddle you mentioned I need do a further research on it. I wanted to ask you a favor. Can you come here to Rogueport? Things would be easier if we attend this matter in person. Hope you can come. I will be waiting for you at Podley's Place in the main square by noon._

_Hope you are okay, send my regards to Princess Peach!_

_Some Goomba kisses for you!_

_Goombella" _

Mario smiled broadly. He really wished to see her again. He ran downstairs and entered the dinning room to find Peach and Luigi having breakfast.

"Good morning Mario!" Peach greeted. She was a lot better than how she looked the day before, but still there was a trace of sadness in her eyes, "What took you so long to come downstairs? You had trouble finding your way here?"

"Peach, do you think we can go to Rogueport by noon today?" Mario asked hurried.

"I…What!?" Peach said a little confused of the sudden question.

Mario took a deep breath before talking to Peach, "Remember Goombella? I think she can help us solve the riddle. She was hoping we could meet her at Rogueport today by noon".

"Oh," Peach exclaimed; they had arrived at Toadsworth's topic. "Mhmm… sure, why not. I'll be happy to see her again" she said forcing a smile. "We can get there in two hours by boat".

"It's settled then!" Mario said smiling.

"Mhmm… Peach do you think you could give me some vomiting bags before we leave?" Luigi asked shyly.

* * *

The trip to Rogueport was extremely boring in Mario's opinion. Luigi, as he predicted himself, had been vomiting every few minutes. Peach was looking at Luigi nervously every time he vomited. "Ugh, luckily I don't get seasick too easily…" she thought as she saw Luigi vomiting for the sixth time.

"We have arrived!" the driver of the boat suddenly said.

Peach was the first to leave the boat, then Mario after her. With the help of both, they aided Luigi came down the boat as he still looked kinda dizzy.

"Never," said Luigi looking woozy, "Never ever…again…in a boat…"

"Relax, bro," Mario comforted him while chuckling, "it's over".

Meanwhile, Peach saw the sight in front of her. Rogueport Harbor stretched in front.

"It has been AGES since I came here," said Peach examining Rogueport Harbor, "not that I have many good memories from it…"

Peach remembered how a year ago she had been kidnapped by some X-Nauts and how she had been possessed by a one-thousand-year-old demon in the Palace of Shadows located down in the sewers of Rogueport.

"Ha! Ha! Don't worry," Mario said, "It's over; nobody will try to posses you this time".

"I hope so…" said Peach under her breath.

The three of them continued walking through the harbor and climbed up the rustic stairs leading up to Rogueport's main square.

"Where you said we will meet with Goombella?" Peach suddenly asked Mario as they made their way through the damp streets between the big buildings pilled at both sides.

"At Podley's Place" Mario answered.

The three of them turned right into a more narrow passage. The sunlight barely reached the small street, so they were in semi-darkness.

"Look, there!" said Mario pointing an old building at the end of the street.

They reached the door of the old building and came in. Mario was half-astonished, half-excited as he saw not only one, but half-a-dozen known faces waiting for him. At the front of the group was Goombella, the same smart and vividly cute light-brown Goomba Mario met a year before. Next to her was Kooper, Mario's old friend who was an adventurous Koopa Troopa whose dream, like Goombella, was to become an archaeologist. Behind him was the beautiful royal Boo princess Lady Bow, who looked more glamorous than ever, wearing her same purple bows in her head and a pink fan in her hand waving it in a classy way. At her right side was Yosh, the small but brave green Yoshi whose birth Mario witnessed a year ago in the Glitz Pit, looking more troublemaker than before. Mario recognized the Paratroopa who was at Kooper's other side almost instantly; it was Parakarry, the mailman. And at last, but not least important to Mario, was Vivian, the shadow girl, having her shiny, pink hair covered by the same white hat with red stripes that she always wore which symbolized her exceptional talent at using fire magic.

Everyone was staring at Mario, smiling at him broadly. The shocked Mario tried to speak but no word came out of his mouth. After a moment of more silence, Goombella decided to break it.

"Mario's army of his most loyal partners reporting!" she said excitedly. Everyone agreed behind her. Mario slowly smiled.


	3. Smart Talk

Chapter 3: Smart Talk

Podley, the owner of the small bar, had never seen his place so crowded; nine people were conversing and tasting some drinks animatedly. Peach and Bow were discussing princess stuff at the end of the bar. Kooper, Parakarry and Yosh were knowing each other better while telling each other the adventures they had experienced. Vivian was laughing at Luigi's jokes at the table closest to Podley, who looked at them as if they were crazy every time Vivian burst to laugh exaggeratedly. And finally, Mario and Goombella were having a nice conversation.

"Seriously it took me all morning contacting all of your friends and asking them to come," Goombella was explaining to Mario, "Koops couldn't made it because he has a temporally job as mayor of Petalburg. Can you believe it?"

"Wow, seriously?" Mario said wide-eyed, "That's great! It seems that his wish finally came true".

"Yea it seems," said Goombella, "Now, about Flurrie, she is busy doing her new theater piece called 'Gale Winds', but she asked me to send you her greetings anyway". Goombella paused a moment and drank some Chuckola Cola from her bottle before continuing, "About your friend named Sushi, he's busy taking care of all the Yoshis or something like that. And about your other friends, I don't have any clue about where they could possibly are".

"Still, you made a great job for finding all of the ones assisting here" said Mario giving credit to Goombella.

"Yea, thanks," she said smiling, "I liked your friends, I mean, the ones that I didn't knew before" she said eyeing Lady Bow, Kooper and Parakarry, "I especially liked Kooper, did you knew he wants to become an archaeologist as I? How exciting!"

"Mhmm… it looks like someone is staring to have crush on Kooper" said Mario making fun of her.

"Mario! How could u…!?" exalted Goombella turning a bright red, "I don't have a crush on ANYBODY! Do u understand that!?"

"Okay, I get it, relax," said Mario laughing, "I was just joking!"

"Oh, OK," said Goombella cooling down, "sorry…"

"Never mind," said Mario smirking, "What I don't get is the reason why you made everyone came here today".

"Is quite obvious isn't it?" said Goombella while drinking some more of her drink, "Everyone is here because they want to help you in your quest of rescuing Toadsworth from his raptor. We thought that you will need our help".

"Oh, thanks" Mario said looking pleased, "the more the better, I think".

"About the riddle you send me… I have searched in several maps looking for a place that match the description of the riddle, but I haven't found anything. Sigh, I HATE not knowing something!"

"Don't be too harsh on yourself okay? I'm sure we will solve it, just give it some patience," Mario encouraged.

"I brought several maps so everyone can help in finding that place," said Goombella as she took out several rolled maps from her pocket.

After two hours of more chatting and drinking, they put all the tables together and started working on those maps. It was amazing the variety of maps Goombella had, coming from maps full of islands to maps of high mountains.

"This will take us all year…" said Yosh as he expanded the third map he had checked on the table.

"Oh, dear, I think I found it!" Lady Bow exclaimed suddenly making everyone jump in their seats. Everyone got closer to see which place Bow was pointing at in her map. "Faire Square!" She exclaimed excited, "Its geometrical shape is a hexagon, but it has the word "square" in it".

"Yea, plus I heard that place is a totally festive town, having many games such as those of lotteries and casinos almost everywhere, so it fits the description of '_you need to be lucky to triumph in here_'…" added Vivian.

"Faire Square?" said Kooper incredulously, "would our captor really hide Toadsworth in a place too…well, crowded?"

"I think Kooper has got a point," said Parakarry, "I have visited that place many times while delivering letters and it's like all kinds of tourist are all over the place".

"I don't know," said Goombella a little taken back of what Kooper said, "but it's the only clue we have, so I think we should give it a shot".

"Yea, I also think we should give it a try," said Mario standing up, "Those in favor of going to Faire Square?"

Everyone instantly raised their hand. Luigi did it so excitedly that he accidentally hit a bottle while raising his hand making it lost balance and fell onto the floor where it shattered into pieces. Everybody turned in his way looking panicked.

"Sorry…" muttered Luigi red of embarrassment. Vivian giggled out loud at the side of him.

"Don't worry," she said still laughing, "I'll help you". Both them bent down to clean the mess they had made. Luigi was about to go for a broom he saw in the wall but Vivian stopped him by grabbing his hand. "Don't need to do that," she said smiling. Taking care that Podley was busy cleaning his spotless bottles and not looking at them, Vivian made all the mess disappear in a burst of flames with a mere movement with her hand. "See? It was not biggie," she giggled.

"Thanks," muttered Luigi to Vivian while helping her return to her seat.

"Then is settle then," said Peach drawing everyone's attention, "To Faire Square off we go!"

"Mhmm... not to be the negative guy but, how on earth we ALL are going to get there?" suddenly asked Parakarry.

"We would need like, a travel trailer I presume?" said Bow in a fancy way.

"I think I can get us one by tomorrow," said Peach. She didn't actually cared for how expensive it would be in the situation she was in, "but for now we should spend the night here".

"Yes, I agree," said Kooper standing on his feet, "I you excuse me guys, I'm very tired, I will go to a hotel right now, let's meet us here like at eight in the morning?"

"That sounds good," Peach agreed and everyone made an approving nod.

"Well, then good night everyone," said Kooper as he leaved through the door closing it behind him.

One by one, people exited the place, and suddenly the only people left were Mario, Luigi and Peach. Mario and Luigi were waiting for Peach, who was having a telephone conversation about the travel trailer. After other twenty minutes, they were out in the streets of Rogueport again. Rain poured down from the skies, making the damaged streets very slippery.

"And the bad luck just seems to follow us," said Peach as she was trying to avoid the rain by hiding in the trees as they passed by, "I don't know how we are going to "triumph" in Faire Square with this tough luck we have".

"Let's stay in that hotel," said Mario pointing a red-bricked building with a big sign that said "Rude Hotel". Luigi and Peach nodded and they hurried to enter the building.

"Okay, this is not like the fanciest hotel I have ever seen, but I don't think I want to stay out in the rain, so I stay" said Peach eyeing the place with a little disgust in her look. And she was right to, because the place looked quite horrible and the furniture was old and mismatched.

They approached the counter to make the reservation and moments later they were going up the aged staircase. When they reached the room, Mario took the key from his pocket and inserted it in the keyhole of the door.

"It's not that bad…" said Luigi trying to cheer Peach as they entered the room, which was not better than the foyer at all.

"Hope that she can survive," Mario whispered to Luigi in the ear as Peach entered the bathroom. Luigi chuckled.

"…AHHH!!!!!!!" Peach yelled as she exited the bathroom in a hurry.

"There's…There's a big cockroach in the toilet!" she said looking more scared than it was needed.

"I think not," Luigi whispered back to Mario as they made their way to the bathroom just to find a black button of cloth floating innocently in the water's surface.

Next day, two people were already at Podley's Place by seven o'clock. Goombella was the first to arrive, so that when Kooper came, who was the second, Goombella had already have breakfast.

"Why did you arrive so early, Bella?" Kooper asked Goombella as he sat down next to her on the table. Goombella went a little red when she heard Kooper call her "Bella", but she managed to control herself in time and acted very normal.

"Dunno," she said masquerading her nervousness, "It's just that I like to be in time, or if possible, before".

"What coincidence, me too," Kooper said smiling. "Mind if I get us some drinks while the others arrive?"

"Not at all," she answered smirking.

Kooper stood up and went to the counter. Several seconds later Kooper returned with a pair of drinks and handed one to Goombella.

"By the way, where do you said you were studying?" Kooper asked Goombella after some moments of silence.

"In the University of Goom," Goombella answered enthusiastically.

"Oh, that's good," Kooper said interested, "I heard it was the best university of Goombas". Kooper made a funny face, "And I assume that you have the best grades in your class?"

Goombella was caught off guard again; she turned the same color as her drink. "Not to presume exactly," she said trying to sound casual, "but yes, I do. How did you knew?"

"I can tell it just by looking at you," Kooper simply said.

"Oh, hee hee thanks," she said dying of embarrassment. "And in what university you said you assist?" she said trying to change the subject about her grades.

"In the Hard Shell University," Kooper said proudly.

"Oh, that's cool; do you have the best grades too?"

"Who? Me!?" Kooper laughed, "Not exactly".

"Oh…" said Goombella a little disappointed.

"I mean, I'm not exactly the smart guy, but I give it some effort to have decent grades," he said proudly.

"Oh, OK" said Goombella cheering up again inside, "I think that's great".

"Thank you," said Kooper winking at Goombella.

"God, he looked SO cute doing that!" Goombella thought deep in her mind.

After a few minutes later, people started arriving, interrupting in Goombella's and Kooper's conversation of two. For some reason, the two preferred for them to be alone, it was easier to talk to each other that way. But why Goombella felt different when she was with Kooper? Or why Kooper felt different when he was with Goombella? Goombella didn't knew. Kooper neither.


	4. A Ghost Matter

Chapter 4: A Ghost Matter

The gang was waiting for the travel trailer to arrive around the beautiful flowers of the Petal Meadows. All of them where waiting eagerly for it to arrive under the morning sun who was starting to appear behind a hill. The exception was Mario and Yosh. Yosh was telling Mario about how he made his way to the mayor league in the Glitz Pit, a battle arena for fighters. He called himself 'The Great Gonzales Jr.' in the arena. His nickname came from the original 'The Great Gonzales', who was indeed Mario's nickname when he fought in the arena. Indeed, Yosh heard Mario being called 'The Great Gonzales' many times when he was just a newborn, that he got used to it and now he still calls him like that. While they were talking so relaxed, Bow was getting very anxious of waiting.

"Dear, are you sure this is the place where we should meet with the travel trailer?" Bow asked Peach a minute later, breathing and exhaling slowly to control her temperament.

"I'm sure…" Peach said not feeling completely sure. She checked her watch; it was ten minutes past nine. The trailer was supposed to arrive at nine.

Parakarry was flying a few meters above to call them for when he saw the trailer approaching.

"I think…I think I see it," he told everybody five minutes later while flapping his wings slightly in midair.

"You 'think' you see it?" said Goombella with an eyebrow raised.

"Well, I don't know," said Parakarry unsure, "I see a red dot moving fast in this direction from across the distance".

"It must be it," said Peach cheering up, "I was told the travel trailer is red!"

"…Or maybe Parakarry has just gone daltonic," Luigi said under his breath.

Vivian burst to laugh behind him but managed to hide it in a sudden cough.

"Yea!" Parakarry exclaimed, "I was right, it's very close now! But…wow!" Parakarry was left speechless as he saw the beautiful red travel trailer of three floors coming nearer and nearer. Moments later it was in front of everyone, who were as astonished as Parakarry by the awe-striking sight.

"Well, so let's go in," said Peach who was not so amused by the trailer unlike the others.

Only Bow followed, who like Peach, was not so surprised by the trailer. All of the others stayed where they were, eyeing the travel trailer awe-struck.

"C'mon!" said Bow waving her hand to the others. "What are you guys waiting for?"

The others came back to earth when Bow's words struck them. They followed Bow to the trailer feeling excited.

"Whoa!" said Mario as he entered the big travel trailer. The inside looked like a small replica of the Mushroom Castle, with the furniture very well matched. The first floor consisted of a small classy living room with three armchairs surrounding a table and a small T.V. Mario was too busy looking with detail the living room that he didn't noticed the Toad who was in the steer wheel waiting for everyone to go inside. When Mario noticed her, she smiled at him. It was Toadette, a Toad girl Mario knew for a long time.

"Hi, there Mario!" she instantly said to Mario while leaving the driver seat to kiss Mario in the cheek.

"Hi, Toadette" said Mario happily. "I didn't know that our driver would be you!"

"Yea, it was a thing of last minute," she said, "I'm unemployed and I was looking for a job," she said getting a bit embarrassed, "And when I heard that Princess Peach and her friends was hiring a travel trailer to travel around the Mushroom Kingdom I immediately went for the job".

"Oh, that's cool," Mario said, happy to see another friend of his travelling with him.

"Great place, Gonzales, ah?" said Yosh smirking from below at Mario's feet.

"Please everyone, feel yourselves at home" said Peach to nobody in particular.

"I will" said Yosh with a smirk quietly enough for only Mario to hear.

For several minutes, the gang went upstairs and downstairs like crazy checking every single corner of the travel trailer. The second floor consisted of a wide kitchen on a side and a big elegant dinning table and a small bathroom on the other. And finally, the third floor all consisted of ten small beds. When everyone finished their inspection, they gathered around the table in the living room to talk.

"Whoa, honestly it is incredible!" exclaimed Luigi excitedly to Peach.

"Thanks," said Peach grinning, "I personally planned the inner decor by myself".

"Hmmm… are you sure this thing works, Princess Peach?" Parakarry asked shyly referring to the T.V., noticing that it had no cables or anywhere to put them if there were.

"Positive, Parakarry," said Peach, "It's an E. Gadd Invention; their technology is very advanced".

"Oh, OK…" said Parakarry not wanting to ask more stupid questions that he was curious about.

Everybody was starting to talk again when Toadette interrupted immediately.

"Em…Princess Peach, you still hasn't told me where we are heading…" she asked embarrassed.

"Oh!" Peach exclaimed; she had completely forgotten that they had a mission to accomplish. "I'm sorry Toadette, my apologizes. We are heading to Faire Square, which's north from here I think".

"As you wish!" Toadette said and immediately she went to the wheel and started to warm up the motor.

Minutes later they were leaving Petal Meadows behind. Bigger and scary trees started to appear. All seemed to go well, the gang were playing the board game called 'Mario Party' in the table of the living room. In first place was Luigi, winning by a big difference in comparison to the others, and in last place was poor Goombella, who said that board games were not her best talent.

"Yiiaaa!" said Bow excitedly, "we are so near from the Mansion. The forest on our left side is the Forever Forest".

"You live in a mansion here in the forest?" asked Kooper interested.

"Yea," said Bow grinning to Kooper, "along with all my dear Boos. You can come sometime and have some tea" Bow giggled.

"Oh, sure!" said Kooper winking at Bow.

Mario couldn't help noticing that Goombella had turned red, and she was eyeing Bow with a mixture of hate and jealousness.

Suddenly the trailer made a brusque full stop, making all the pieces of the board game to fell over along with some people. Everyone was looking startled, as wondering what was going on, everyone except Goombella, who was happy that the sudden stop had interrupted the disturbing conversation between Bow and Kooper.

"Toadette, what's going on?" asked Mario, helping Vivian to stand, who had fell over with the stop.

"It's a detour!" Toadette called back from the front seat loud enough for everyone to hear. "They're paving the street or something; we need to reach Faire Square through the forest!".

"I don't like how that sounds…" said Parakarry looking tense.

"Neither do I," said Peach, "But I guess we have no choice," she said determined. "Go on Toadette, to the forest".

Although the Forever Forest had a road, the trip was very uncomfortable. Branches and leaves from trees were falling on the windshield while an annoyed Toadette was trying to take them off. The road was very narrow and full of rocks, making the trailer to leap a little consecutively.

"And the bad luck just keeps chasing me!" said an angered Peach to herself who was trying to read a book in the living room, making it difficult to read with the trailer shaking every moment. After a minute she decided to quit her bad reading, and better she went to the kitchen upstairs and made tea for everyone.

The charming sun that was once in the sky had now turned red, indicating dusk.

"I think we should stay here tonight," said a worried Vivian "is not safe to wander in this forest at night".

"She is right," agreed Goombella. "What do you think Peach?"

"Hmmm… OK," accepted Peach.

Toadette searched for an opening clear to spend the night. When she finally found one, she turned the trailer off, securely locked the door from the inside, and joined everyone upstairs in the dinning table who were having dinner. After enjoying Luigi's Koopa Pasta, everybody went upstairs to bed. After one hour, everyone was sleeping deeply in their beds, everyone except Yosh, who was staring at the night from the window.

"Sigh…man, this insomnia is killing me," Yosh whispered to himself. He looked down at the sea of gloom trees stretching below him. Suddenly Yosh noticed a shadow moving fast toward the woods.

The shadow instantly was lost of view when it passed through some trees.

"What the…?" said Yosh with his mouth half-open. His adventurous nature struck him like some sort of radar; he wanted to investigate who was that mysterious shadow. Silently not to wake the others, Yosh made his way out of the travel trailer.

The chilling wind of the night reached Yosh as soon as stepped out of the trailer. The atmosphere outside looked much more creeper than it looked from the window of the bedroom, though this wasn't enough to stop Yosh from investigating.

He slowly made his way through the open field and entered the woods in the same place the shady character entered before. The bright full moon above in the sky wasn't enough to light the forest. Yosh walked slowly through the vast forest, looking alert and cautious. He then reached a narrow walking road; he smiled in relief. He followed the path. After a minute of following the path he encountered with a fork. Without meditating too much of which road to take, Yosh took the left road. Another fork; he turned right. Then left, then right, then right, then left…

Without noticing he suddenly bumped into someone.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Yosh surprised.

"Shhhh!!" said Bow taking her hand to Yosh's mouth to shut him up.

When Yosh saw that it was Bow the one who was in front of him he relaxed. Bow let her hand go.

"What are you doing here?" Yosh asked to Bow.

"Shhhh!!" said Bow again in a whisper, "Keep your voice down okay?"

"But why?" Yosh returned the whisper.

"The Boo Mansion has been attacked," said Bow worrywart. "All my dear Boos have been kidnapped".

"Oh" exclaimed Yosh, "But who…?"

"Some Duplighosts and their king," Bow said. "Bootler told me telepathically that Duplighosts suddenly appeared in the forest and that they were searching for something in the Mansion, so I decided to come here immediately, careful not to wake anyone".

Yosh had only met one Duplighost in all his life. He was called Doopliss, and he gave Mario and his friends so many troubles last year. However, at the end of that year he became good and now he worked as an actor. As Yosh remembered, Duplighost are famous for their ability to change their appearance into other persons or things.

"What do you think they are after?" Yosh asked Bow.

"The Ghost Gem," Bow simply said.

"The what?" Yosh asked confused.

"The Ghost Gem," Bow repeated, "It's an ancient jewel that has been passed down on many royal generations of Boos. It is said to posses great power, and it will make any ghost like super-powerful". She took a long breath, "And is my duty to protect it now".

"Wow, that's…" Yosh didn't found the words he wanted to say, so he better changed his words, "And where are they?"

"Right in front of us," said Bow moving a little for Yosh to see the sight that was at the other side of the bushes in which both of them were hiding.

Yosh recognized the white-sheet monsters that were all surrounding a big fire. Floating over the fire was one rather bigger than the others, with a small golden crown at the top of his head, which Yosh identified as the Duplighost King. The Duplighost King was talking out loud to the others, as if they were cooking up a plan, but Yosh couldn't hear a thing with the piercing wind blowing harshly. Yosh suddenly noticed that there was a big metal cage in which at least fifty Boos were crowded inside.

"Here's the plan," said Bow to Yosh in the ear. "I'll go to distract them and take them out of here. You go over to the cage and get rid of that little rock" said Bow pointing a small blue rock that was hanging by a rope in front of the cell. "That rock prevents Boos from Disappearing or performing any kind magic…"

"Are you crazy?!" Yosh said exalting a little, "You won't use yourself as bait!"

"I appreciate that you worry about me," she said smiling a bit, "But there's no choice, I will give everything I have to rescue my people".

Yosh could notice the courage that was flaring inside Bow's eyes. Bow could be a glamorous classy princess, but when it came to her people, there was nothing more important in the world for her, and she would risk everything for them.

"Well, OK" finally agreed Yosh not fully convinced. "But where do I take them or what?"

"Just tell them to go to the Safe Circle. And then I want you to come to the Boo Mansion. We will meet there".

"OK…"

"Okay…one, two and… three!" shouted Bow.

She instantly floated and she advanced forward, making the Duplighosts notice her.

"Hey! You fools!" said Bow making fun of them, "Come and get me if you can!"

"Oh, look who is it, Your Creepiness," said a Duplighost to their king, "It is that Boo Princess! Maybe she knows where the gem is!"

"Let's get her!!!" the Duplighost King instantly ordered to all the Duplighost. At once, every single of them floated slightly and raced toward Bow. Bow reacted fast and floated in the opposite direction. She winked at Yosh, who was still hidden in the bushes, as she passed by.

When the area was free of Duplighost, Yosh came out of the bushes and ran to the metal cage. He used his gigantic tongue to grab the blue rock at the top of the cage and throw it away. The Boos, knowing what was happening, they Disappeared and then Appeared out of the cage near Yosh.

"Listen," said Yosh loudly, a little bit nervous of talking to the whole lot, "Your princess, Bow, ordered you to hide in something you call the "Safe Circle. So please go there".

The Boos doubted for a moment of what to do, but after a second, everyone Disappeared in the spot, every Boo except one.

"Uh?" said Yosh confused.

The Boo approached Yosh. He looked quite old, with a broad white-mustache and a pair of small eyes.

"I'm Bootler, Lady Bow's butler," he said to Yosh, "anything that concerns Lady Bow, concerns me, so I must ask you to take me to her"

It sounded like an order to Yosh, but he didn't know what to do. Bow didn't mention about an exception, but if he really was Bow's butler, then he was of trust to let him come along.

"Okay then, buddy…" said Yosh not too sure. "Come along".

Yosh started moving and Bootler followed. They continued through the path that Bow took to escape from the Duplighosts.

"Why those ghosts want your Ghost Gem either way?" Yosh asked Bootler as they walked through the infinite trees.

"I think they want to give it to the Duplighost King," Bootler answered in his elderly voice, "They want to make him stronger so he can compete in the Waffle Pit that takes place this year".

Oh, OK…" said Yosh. He didn't know what Bootler meant with that but, he didn't plan to ask again.

"Here we are," suddenly said Bootler after several minutes of more walking. Yosh eyed the big, creepy mansion that was now in front of them. It was very small in comparison of the Mushroom Castle, but still it was very big in Yosh opinion. If it wasn't for the ivy growing in the external walls and the spider webs in every corner, the mansion would have looked pretty, plus the full moon shining above gave it a ghastly look, which didn't make it look any better.

The two made their way through the yard. Yosh was having trouble to walk because every time he gave a step he passed over sharp rocks and old leaves. He noticed that Bootler wasn't having any trouble, but then he remembered that Boos didn't touch the ground at all…

Both reached the big wooden door in front of the mansion. Bootler opened it naturally and entered inside. Yosh, a little bit scared of what was inside, followed. When he closed the door behind him, he totally regretted it; the foyer was very dim, only illuminated by a few torches. He suddenly noticed that Bow was standing in front of them, hidden a bit in the darkness.

"Follow me," she said. Without saying another word, she floated away and disappeared through one of the doors.

"My Lady Bow, what…" Bootler couldn't finish his sentence because Bow was already lost of view. He eagerly followed through the door with Yosh going after him. Both ran through a big corridor and then finally found Bow. She was waiting for them in front of another door.

"Go inside, I need to show you something," she ordered to them pointing the door.

"Wait a sec', you are not My Lady…" Bootler started.

Without wasting one second, Bow raised her hands in the air and threw Bootler and Yosh inside with psychic power. Bootler and Yosh hit the floor inside the new room. They turned in the direction where Bow was.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! You are so easy to fool!" said Bow with a totally different voice which was not hers. She disappeared behind a cloud of purple smoke and the Duplighost King was the one who emerged from the mist. "With you out of our way, we are free to look calmly for the Ghost Gem".

"Sigh! How couldn't I notice that? I knew that trick before!" said an angered Yosh still immobile in the floor.

The Duplighost King closed the door with a slam and then he carefully placed the same blue rock that was once in the metal cage where the Boos were trapped at the top of the door.

From the inside, Yosh tried to open the door Slamming it continuously, and Bootler was trying to Disappear out of the room, but it was useless. After a minute, both of them gave up.

"We are trapped…" said Bootler sadly.


	5. A Tiny Little Problem

Chapter 5: A tiny little problem

"Please stop, kid" said Bootler looking at Yosh useless attempts to open the door. "You are not doing any better".

Yosh stopped Slamming the door, but it was only because his head was going to burst if he tried it more. Yosh paced around and around the gloom room drowned on his own thoughts. Bootler remained still, eyeing the room trying to find something useful. He had been so worried about escaping that he hadn't noticed in which room he was in. It was the library of the mansion; several shelves full of books filled the room, with a wooden table and several chairs around it. What had happened to her Lady Bow? The Duplighost had caught her too? Too many questions swirled like a tornado inside his head; he started to search for something more desperately. He looked down at the floor, and incidentally, he found a small hole at the bottom of the end wall.

"Hey, kid!" Bootler called throatily to Yosh, "I found a small hole; Do you think you can get in?"

Yosh approached the hole in the wall that Bootler was pointing at and inspection it.

"Nah, it's too small…" said Yosh a little disappointed with himself.

"There must be a way to fit in!" Bootler called desperately, his blood pressure rising.

"Wait…I think there's a way," said Yosh thinking hard.

"Speak up, boy!" rushed Bootler.

"I can make you small enough to fit in there… but it kinda hurts a little, man" said Yosh feeling somewhat sorry for the old man.

"Do it, I don't care," said Bootler with courage, "We are running out of time". Bootler positioned himself in front of Yosh away from the chairs and all the stuff that lay on the floor, as if expecting an attack.

Yosh took a deep breath. He really had a wide respect for elders, but there was no other choice. Out of nowhere, he took out a small green egg and held it in his hand firmly. He closed his eyes; he preferred not to see anything. Without hesitating, he threw the egg were he thought Bootler was. There was a cracking noise, such as if the egg had broke, followed by a complete silence. Yosh opened his eyes slowly: his Mini-Egg attack had worked. Bootler was now the size of a mouse.

"Doing okay over there?" called Yosh while he bent on his knees to have a better look at the tiny Bootler at his feet.

"I think so…" said Bootler confused in a high pitched voice, which was clearly not his common voice, "This feels weird… And that impact did hurt!"

"Sorry…" apologized Yosh, "Now, hurry to go through the hole; the effect will dispel in a few minutes" hurried Yosh.

"I'll be back!" shouted the small Bootler in that same high-pitched voice as he floated through the hole in the wall.

Now Yosh was alone in the room. He felt completely useless, the only thing he could do was to wait for Bootler to unlock the door from the other side. Suddenly a book falling from one of the shelves broke the silence by hitting the floor with a dull sound. Yosh approached it and picked it from the floor. The front cover was covered with dust; Yosh blew hard to be able to read the golden words inscribed: 'All about Duplighost'.

He, looking interested, approached the table carrying the book in his hands and sat in one of the chairs. As by magical means, the candle that was in the middle of the table suddenly lit up. Yosh, thanking to nobody in particular, put the book in the table in front of him and opened it: There was a big list of contents in the first page. Yosh scanned the list quickly. He stopped in the one that read 'Duplighosts Weaknesses'. He smiled broadly to himself and turned to the page indicated.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bootler was standing outside in the fresh mown of the backyard, back into his original size. The hole had led him there.

He quickly floated to the door that led him to the kitchen. As he entered, he was startled to see that three Duplighost were there, searching for something like crazy around the kitchen. Then, one Duplighost turned and saw Bootler.

"Hey! How did you get in here!?" it yelled, getting the attention of the other two.

The three of them quickly raced after him. Bottler tried to Disappear, but he couldn't do it: another blue rock had been placed somewhere in the kitchen. Before Bootler could do anything else, two of the Duplighost grabbed him by both arms. The other simply laughed out loud.

"My Master would be delighted to see you" he said maniacally.

* * *

Yosh closed the dusty book; He had read enough. How much time had it passed since Bootler left? He jumped out of his seat and started pacing around. A few minutes later, he deduced that something might have happened to him.

He returned to his old standby: to Slam the door. He was about to give up in the fifth attempt, but in the sixth, with great effort, he managed to break down the door with a powerful Slam. Sobbing his head, he returned to the table and grabbed the candle. Then, he quickly exited the library.

He ran through the several corridors and doors searching desperately for Bootler and Bow. He checked in the living room, dinning room, kitchen…nothing. Finally, he stopped in front of two big unknown doors. He opened them slowly and silently as he could.

It was a very big room, with the ceiling extremely high, and a quite big bare space in the middle of the room. Small, white decorated tables covered every side of the walls. Yosh supposed it was the ballroom of the mansion.

He was astonished with the room, as it looked very beautiful despite the creepy air it had around it. Even because the floor was noticeably dirty, the floor reflected a perfect image of him down at his feet. He stared at his own reflection for several moments.

Suddenly it became an obsession; he couldn't take his eyes off his reflection.

"What the…" he said to himself. Now he really wanted to look away from his reflection, but he just couldn't manage to do it. It was as if the reflection on the floor kept him stare at it with a mystic force. It looked as if it was inviting him to something.

He bent down at his knees to have a better look of himself. The image was suddenly distorted; it didn't reflect the young Yoshi it had reflected moments before. Now it reflected a quite old pale Yoshi. Yosh winced surprised and then moved his face closer to the image below. As he went closer, the older himself was getting older and older.

"No!" Yosh shouted in disbelief and confusion. Full of anger, he moved a fist in the direction of the reflection, as if trying to break it. Instead, the fist went right through it. Yosh started at his arm that was now half-sunken in the floor.

He hadn't much time to comprehend what had happened because suddenly all the floor started shaking. It was as if it was melting; the floor was not solid anymore, but semi liquid, as if the floor had become like an enormous quicksand. Yosh started being dragged by it. He tried to fight it, but it was completely useless. He closed his eyes in fear when only his head was still afloat.

He felt he was completely sucked by the floor now. Suddenly he felt as if he was falling, and moments later he hit a damp floor with a dull sound.

He opened his eyes slowly. He was no longer in that big ballroom, but in what it looked like an underground passage. Torches were lit in the walls, which were made of what looked of a very hard rock. He carefully stood on his feet and massaged his back because of the impact.

In his mind he was trying to reason what had just happened. He came to only one conclusion: He was dragged by a moving floor in the ballroom and being led into the room that was below it. It sounded quite crazy, but it was the only explanation he had at the time.

"Pugh! What that hell is that smell? Barf me out!" he complained to himself as he took his hand to his nose to cover it from the stingy smell that surrounded the path.

With one hand still covering his mouth, and the other holding the lit candle, he started to walk down the path. A few minutes of walking, he came with the thought that the path was endless, but suddenly he heard some voices ahead.

"Tell me where it is! Now!" said a voice which sounded like the Duplighost King to Yosh. Then another voice, Bow's voice indeed, answered with a daring voice.

"Never, you freak!" she yelled with a voice that was coming weaker and weaker. "Let me go!"

Yosh quickly followed the path, leaded by the voices. As he proceeded, light was coming more evident; a bright blue coming from the place where Bow was being tortured was reflected in the walls, illuminating quite well.

Yosh dropped the candle, as it was of no use anymore, and continued to run faster. Then he was astonished by the look in front of him: an enormous cave, bigger than the ballroom, with a small underground lake in the middle. The stingy smell that surrounded the passage wasn't present anymore, and it was replaced with a salty smell. The Duplighost King and Bow were in the edge of the lake, Bow lying unconscious on the floor of the cave and the Duplighost King standing beside her looking quite angry.

"Water," Yosh thought, "This is cool".

He quietly approached both of them, taking care not too make too much noise. When he was standing just behind the Duplighost King, he decided to get his attention.

"Hey, Jerk! Surprise!" he yelled. The Duplighost turned surprised and he received Yosh kick in the face just as he turned. He was thrown inches back and almost fell in the lake, but he managed to get balance before doing so.

"Darn it! Almost done!" Yosh thought as he reassumed fighting position.

"Ahhh! You again? Hi, little creature" he said making fun of him, "So you came all the way here to rescue your darling girlfriend? Hahaha! I guess I can have a little fun with you!"

The Duplighost disappeared in a purple smoke and an identical Yosh as the one that was standing near came out of it.

"Let's see if you can beat yourself!" he said with a smirk.

Yosh did his Mini-Egg attack to the Duplighost King swiftly. The Duplighost King did the same and both eggs broke in midair making some sparks fly in all directions.

"Hahaha! See? You can't beat me!" the Duplighost laughed.

Yosh felt his cheeks burning in anger. He jumped high in the air just below the king, and put himself in position to strike him from above. The Duplighost acted fast and evaded Yosh as he came down. Then the king himself jumped high in the air and came down to struck Yosh, who was still recovering form his attack. The impact hit Yosh well and he fell to the ground while the Duplighost King attacked him multiple times with the same attack. When Yosh was beat up but good, the king returned to the ground with a laugh.

"Hahaha!" he simply said, "That's what you call a Ground Pound, uh? A quite interesting move! Too bad that I can do it better than you!" he laughed again.

He jumped again in midair pretending to Ground Pound Yosh again, but Yosh managed to roll in the ground and evade it. While the Duplighost King was trying to stand on his feet to attack again, Yosh punched him with a green-glowing hand, which made the king flew meters back.

"Ouch!" he cried, "That did hurt! What was that move?!"

"A special move called the Yoshi Punch!" Yosh said triumphantly.

"Argh! Now you will receive your own medicine!" said the Duplighost King standing on his feet and start charging to Yosh with a green-glowing hand just like Yosh did before.

When the king was just a few meters away from him, Yosh whistled in a peculiar way loudly. Suddenly a herd of illusionary Yoshis, still able to cause damage, appeared out of nowhere and started charging at the Duplighost King.

The king stopped in his tracks and performed the Yoshi Herd also. Both herds collapsed into each other and vanished in a gigantic cloud of smoke. When the smoke vanished, the king was ready to attack Yosh.

"Uh?" he said confused. He couldn't see Yosh anywhere. He walked closer to where Yosh stood before and started to search for him with the eyes.

Completely unexpected by the Duplighost King, Yosh suddenly jumped out of the lake and shoot a stream of water from his mouth to the king. The water hit directly in his face and he walked back in pain. Suddenly he was covered in a purple smoke and he came out in his original Duplighost form.

"Argh! How did you knew that I can't stand water!?" the Duplighost King said in anger.

"Books," Yosh replied with a smile calmly floating in the water. "Now I'm going to finish you, jerk!"

Yosh jumped again in midair and threw another stream of water to the king. The Duplighost King managed to evade it and then he Transformed into Yosh again.

"Yea, let's finish this," he said defiantly. In that precise moment, Bow woke up. She started confusedly by the battle that was taking place in front of her. It seemed that neither Yosh nor the Duplighost King had noticed her awoke.

The Duplighost attacked Yosh with a Mini-Egg attack. Yosh was about to break the egg with a stream of water, but the egg flying directly to him suddenly vanished in thin air in a white smoke.

"What?!" cried the Duplighost King.

"Looking for this, freak?" Bow called behind him. The king turned around looking confused. Bow was now holding the mini-egg the Duplighost King threw before in her hand. She threw it with great force to the Duplighost King. The egg hit him and he was suddenly turned mini. Yosh came walking behind Bow.

"How did you knew who was the Duplighost and who was me?" Yosh asked looking surprised.

"_Your welcome_ for saving you!" she frowned.

"Oh, sorry," Yosh said apologetic. "Thank you so much".

"Oh, not so fast, you!" said Bow to the small Duplighost King who had started running to the exit pretending to escape. Bow held her hand in front of her, as if pretending to grab the king from such distance. Suddenly the Duplighost King vanished in the same white smoke as the mini-egg did before and he reappeared in Bow's open palm.

"Wow, cool move!" Yosh exclaimed.

"Thanks," said Bow with a smirk. "Now, what will we do with _this _thing?" she said looking at the small king in her palm.

"Mm… I think to threw him in the water would be the best thing" said Yosh smiling.

"No!" cried with high-pitched voice the small Duplighost King.

"Okay, then" said Bow mimicking Yosh smile.

Both of them approached the lake. Bow was about to throw the king the lake when Yosh said:

"Stop! I want to give him the final blow," he said looking funny.

"Okay, then" agreed Bow by handing him the Duplighost.

Yosh hand began to glow in a greenish light, and then he performed his Yoshi Punch with all his might to the Duplighost King, who was sent flying to the center of the lake. He entered the water with a small splash.

"He will survive, right?" Yosh asked a bit concerned.

"Of course," Bow said, "My ghost fish will take him outside through an underwater tunnel. But I think he has learned his lesson".

"Oh, OK" Yosh said looking interested. "Hey, by the way, where the Ghost Gem really was?"

"Right under his nose," Bow said, "Come, follow me".

Bow started floating above the water to the center of the lake. Yosh, who couldn't float, had to make his way by swimming. When they were very close to the center of it, Yosh felt a strange sensation, as if crossing through an invisible thingy. Suddenly out of nowhere a pillar in the very center came into view.

"There's an invisible veil around it to cover it from robbers," Bow explained.

Bow held her hand out and looked to the top of the pillar, where a strange-looking rock was. She Summoned it in her hand for Yosh to have a better look at it. With a closer look, Yosh could see that the rock was a bright red and that it was shaped like a skull.

"Wow! It is really beautiful!" Yosh exclaimed looking at it.

"Oh, it seems like a small piece is missing," Bow said looking at one of the edges of the rock, where indeed was a small part missing "…Or maybe it was that way before? I think yes. I mean, it can't survive for hundreds of years without having a small scratch, right?"

"Haha!" laughed Yosh, "I think not".

"Hey, Yosh if you don't mind, can't we get out here?"

"Oh, yea sure"

Bow Summoned the Ghost Gem back at its place and both returned to the edge of the lake. Bow came out completely clean, as she was hovering above all the water, but Yosh came out all soaked.

"Oh, by the way, I never thanked you for helping me with this," Bow said "So…" She approached Yosh and gave him a heartedly kiss in the cheek.

"Oh, your welcome, it was no prob at all," said Yosh flushing. "Now let's go and find Bootler"

"What?!" Bow said.

"Em…" Yosh started, "He insisted in coming to rescue you, and well I couldn't stop him from following me…

But then we both were trapped in a room and well, he insisted me to turn him mini so he could escape through a hole in the wall. And so I did, but he never returned…"

"Oh, quickly, let's find him!" said Bow with a rush. She started floating swiftly to the passage were Yosh came from, with Yosh following behind her.

Both of them made their way back through the dim passage. They have to find Bootler, who Yosh thought he should be fine. He couldn't wait to tell everyone about their great adventure they had.

**End of chapter! Thanks for the few reviews.**


	6. Like, Totally Classy

Chapter 6: Like, Totally Classy

At dawn, the gang was having breakfast peacefully in the second floor enjoying Luigi's famous Shroom Roast delicately prepared by him. The exception was Bow and Yosh, whom after telling everyone the experience they had night before, they went to sleep immediately and haven't wake up yet.

They did manage to rescue Bootler the night before. He was trapped in a wardrobe somewhere in the second floor. Bow and Yosh narrated what had happened to Bootler, and after telling him everything was fine, they say goodbye to him and decided to return to the travel trailer immediately because it was almost dawn.

And now there they were, sleeping each in their own respective comfy bed in the third floor. Yosh woke up some hours later, but still feeling too drowsy to leave his bed. Bow was moving uneasily in her bed changing positions eventually.

"Bow, are you awake?" Yosh asked.

"Yea," Bow said opening her eyes sheepily.

"Uff! What adventure we had, wasn't it?" Yosh asked remembering his awesome battle with the Duplighost King the night before.

"Yea, sure" said Bow sleepily.

"Hey… I wanted to ask you something…" Yosh said full of interest.

"Mm?" said Bow distractingly.

"In that room… in the ballroom… well suddenly I stared at the floor… and well… I saw myself getting older and older as I approached…and the next moment I was being dragged by the floor as if it was some kind of quicksand… Man, that was craziest thing ever!" Yosh said excitedly.

Bow, now giving Yosh her full attention, was looking for the best words to say it before replying to him.

"It's one of the protections the Ghost Gem has," she replied, "Is to scare away people, making them to think that if they came closer to the floor they will actually become older. That's the greatest fear of weak people: to be afraid to grow up. But one who is not afraid of going forth to face the challenges destiny awaits for him or her can approach the floor easily without cowering about what might happen. Only a true courageous mind, one who is not fooled by tricky illusions, can pass through. You were approved to be a courageous person so the floor dragged you a step closer to where the Ghost Gem was".

"Wow!" replied Yosh with gleaming eyes. "That's very philosophic and stuff!"

Bow smirked at Yosh just as Parakarry appeared in the stairs carrying a tray with some Koopa Buns and some Healthy Salad in his hands.

"I was told to bring you these, guys" Parakarry uttered putting the tray carefully in Bow's bed.

"Oh, okay, thank you, Parakarter," Bow gleamed.

"It's 'P-a-r-a-k-a-r-r-y'!" Parakarry huffed while his cheeks blushed.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Parakarry!" Bow apologized, "I kinda forgot your name for a sec'!"

"Yea… whatever…" said Parakarry feeling a little hurt, "Well… I must be going…" he quickly climbed down the stairs leaving only Bow and Yosh again in the room.

"Ouch! What a bummer! I think you hurt that guy's feelings!" said Yosh before he regretted saying that. "How could you forget his name? You know him for a long time!"

"Yea… well, let's don't get too much into it," said Bow being put a bit down, "Better help me eat this food 'cause I can't eat all by myself".

* * *

They made a quick pit stop to have lunchtime and chat a little in the dinning room. The exception was Bow and Yosh, who were still in the third floor, and Kooper and Goombella who were talking down in the first floor.

"Hey, Bella," Kooper said to Goombella from across the table of the first floor. "Close our eyes for a sec',"

"What?" Goombella asked confused.

"Just do it!" Kooper said eagerly.

"Mmm… okay," she agreed not fully convinced and closed her eyes forcefully.

"Okay… now open them…"

Goombella eagerly opened her eyes. Kooper was handing her a thick bright red book titled 'Ancient Magic of The Past' with shining silver letters. An electric blue ribbon was wrapped around the book as a present.

"Ohmigosh!" she exclaimed excitedly, "Thank you so much!"

"Nothing to thank for," said Kooper with a smile, "Hope you liked it, anyway."

"Of course I do!" Goombella gleamed, "Indeed I had been searching for a book of ancient magic for a long time but I was unsuccessful in finding one".

"Oh, well I'm glad then," said Kooper winking.

"When you bought this for me?" Goombella asked still looking quite cheerful.

"In the night after we met," he explained, "I found it in one of Rogueport's libraries. You were so kind to me, so I decided to buy you a small present".

"Aww… How sweet" Goombella said flushing.

The moment was unfortunately spotted by Toadette, who was coming downstairs to reassume her driving.

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry," she squealed dramatically, "I am interrupting something?"

"Yes" said Kooper faking a cold voice.

Toadette merely flinched, as she didn't expect that answer. Goombella gave Kooper a funny disapproving face.

"Hey, I was just kidding, Toadette!" said Kooper laughing who was joined immediately by Toadette herself after realizing it was a joke.

"Okay! Okay!" she said still laughing, "I better go to the front to continue my work, or we will never arrive, heehee".

"How far away we are from Faire Square?" Goombella asked Toadette who was walking to the front of the car.

"I think we are very close now," answered Toadette, "We will arrive like in an hour".

"OK, thanks"

* * *

About one hour later, as Toadette had predicted, the travel trailer was in front of the festive town of Faire Square. One by one, the gang exited the travel trailer looking quite excited. The exception was Toadette, who said she would park the trailer somewhere and stay there to watch over it. 

"Ohmigosh!" Goombella exclaimed as she had a closer look of the town. Balloons of every color ever imagined were floating over Faire Square buildings and houses. Confetti was flying in the everywhere in the sky in all directions. The gang could hear festive music as they came closer.

When they were about to cross the bridge that was the division between the town and the outsides, someone emerged from the shadows. A rather short old hag was standing near them, wearing a hat with white and blue stripes, which in comparison of her body, it was enormous. Her hair came out of the hat, which was the color of white snow.

Well hidden in a nearby bush, Beldam watched the gang crossing the bridge in front of her. She sank again in the shadows and reappeared several meters in front of the gang, far enough to prevent for any of them to recognize her. She immediately swung her hands forward to magically create a sudden gust of chilly wind directed to them.

"Ahhh!" everyone shouted. The frosty wind blew them all away a few meters. Sight was suddenly blurred for everyone because of the strong wind. Slowly, the gust began to fade as if it had never been there. Beldam was no longer in sight…

"What the HELL was that?!" Goombella shrieked.

"I have no idea…" Peach answered in a confused voice.

Vivian was thinking hard in her mind. _Icy wind…cold icy wind…Could it be…? No…Beldam…Nah she wouldn't do such a thing…_

"Mmm…Vivian? Are you okay?" Luigi asked approaching her and putting a hand in her shoulder.

She snapped out of her thoughts and gave Luigi a confused look, "Mm? What…? Oh, yea, yea… I'm fine…I'm just a little startled because of the gust that's all…"

"Well, who whoever was the dork that did this to us, they left a note" said Mario holding a letter in his hands standing where Beldam was before she vanished.

The gang quickly approached Mario as he unfolded the letter. It was written in the same handwriting as the one of the letter they found in the bathtub where Toadsworth had been kidnapped.

_Find the luckiest thing in the luckiest place. _

"Oh, awesome, another riddle," Yosh said frustrated, "What do you think we should do, Gonzales?"

But it wasn't Mario, but Peach the one who answered to Yosh question.

"I think we should ask the townsfolk first to see which is the 'luckiest place' in here don't you think?" Peach suggested.

"I think Peach is right, but who we should ask?" Vivian asked.

"What about those gals?" Kooper said eyeing a trio of female Goombas chatting in front of a market not far away from them. They gang thought they were extremely rich for the beautiful jewels and accessories they wore.

"I don't think those girls will talk to people like…us" Parakarry said lowly, "I mean they are all high-class…and well, we aren't".

"Just watch me, Parakarry" Goombella said confidently before starting to walk to the trio of Goombas.

Goombella approached them by walking through the mast of people shopping here and there. But when she finally reached them, instead of talking to them, she started checking jewels that were in a market.

"What the hell is she doing?" Yosh asked looking at Goombella who was just standing there checking the jewels of the market.

"Just wait… she must have a plan, I'm sure" Bow said watching how the girls had noticed Goombella.

The trio approached Goombella, and the one who looked to be the wealthiest, wearing a pretty pink set of robes, decided to talk to her.

"Hi dear, I have never seen you in this town before, are you new?" she said in a classy way.

"Yea," said Goombella in the same kind of voice of the wealthy Goomba, "this place is like totally awesome!".

Without her noticing, Mario and the gang slowly approached her and pretended to be interested in the stuff of a nearby market so they could hear the conversation.

"I know, right?" said a second Goomba wearing a ruby dress giggling stupidly.

"If you are going to buy something my dear, I would totally suggest you this," said the third Goomba, who was wearing a light orange garment, holding a beautiful necklace in her hands and showing it to Goombella.

"Fer sure! It's like so damn gorgeous!" said Goombella gleaming while taking the necklace from the Goomba.

"By the way, my name's Goomlodia" said the pink-wearing Goomba, "And this is Malioomba…" she said looking at the red-wearing Goomba, "And this one here is Goomchelle…" the orange-wearing Goomba smiled.

"Soo pleased to meet you," giggled Goombella, "Mine's Goombella".

"Oh, what a darling name!" exclaimed Goomchelle.

"It's a way better than mine! I'm jealous!" said Malioomba.

"I totally agree myself!" giggled Goombella.

"Hey, why don't you hang around with us? So much to show you!" said Goomlodia excitedly.

"I kinda have some things to do…" said Goombella half heartedly now remembering WHY she was having that conversation with those Goombas.

"Please! Come with us!" exclaimed Malioomba.

"Well… oh right," said Goombella unsure.

"C'mon, let's get audi! I'm getting UVs here!" said Goomlodia dramatically.

"I'm like so sure!" said Goomchelle rolling her eyes, "The day is not even sunny!"

"Yea, but what-EVER, let's just go!" said Goomlodia who had started to walk away. The other two followed after her.

"C'mon, Goombella!" called Goomchelle noticing that Goombella was not following them.

"Okay…" said Goombella as she started to walk behind the trio, giving the gang an apologetic look when she passed by them.

When Goombella and the girls were out of earshot, the gang began discussing what had just happened.

"All that time wasted and we didn't get any information!" scowled Yosh, "And worst, she went away with those rich girls and abandoned us!"

"Don't worry about that," said Mario comprehensively, "I'm sure Goombella will bring back lots of information when she returns."

"If she ever returns…" whispered Yosh under his breath.

"Wow! I didn't know Goombella could speak Valspeak!" Kooper said enthusiastically.

"What's Valspeak?" Parakarry asked confused.

"Oh, c'mon, sheeesshh, Valspeak," Kooper repeated.

"No, honestly, what's Valspeak?" Luigi asked.

"It's a language cool people use, duh," Kooper answered.

Everyone put a are-you-calling-me-a-loser face and glared at Kooper, who made a nervous laugh. The tense moment was immediately interrupted by Peach.

"Hey, why don't we explore around and reserve a room in a NICE hotel in which to spend the night?" Peach suggested.

"Yea, Peach's right, c'mon let's get going!" Bow said.

* * *

"Wow, your house is so wickedly awesome and stuff!" Goombella said with her eyes feasted on the beautiful inner decor of the foyer in Goomlodia's house. 

"Oh, believe me, you haven't seen anything yet," Goomlodia giggled stupidly while she guided her and her friends to a rather big sitting room.

"Let's see… what we have scheduled for today, Goomchelle?" Goomlodia said distractingly while she invited her friends to sit in one of the classy sofas.

"Let's see…" Goomchelle said while picking a pink list from the table in front of her, "just a few things today… first do some shopping in Faire Square's downtown at four and assist Grandon's formal party at seven.

"_Wow! Who ever thought these rich girls' life was even more complicated and scheduled than the girls back in the University…" _Goombella thought in her mind.

"Well, we have one hour before going shopping," said Goomlodia, "Want some drinks meanwhile?"

"I would be delighted," giggled Goombella followed by the other two who nodded.

Goomlodia left the sitting room and returned a minute after with some goblets and a bottle of wine in hand. She deposited the goblets in front of each of the girls and then served a healthy measure of wine in each.

Goombella muttered a 'thank you' and drank some of her wine. Goomlodia sat beside Malioomba with her own goblet in hand and immediately the three girls started discussing the fashions of this month.

Goombella, who thought there won't be perfect moment to ask it, she interrupted the girls talk.

"Which is the luckiest place in here?" she asked.

"Why, is the Star Sanctum, of course," replied Malioomba.

"Oh, OK," Goombella giggled, "thanks."

"What a weird question, dear," Goomchelle said analyzing the question, "Why did you ask that?"

"I don't know, for curiosity I guess," Goombella said, "And…where this um… Star Sanctum is located?"

"Weird that you ask, is in the very, very center of the town," said Malioomba mysteriously while giving a sip of her wine.

"We can totally take you there when we go shopping if you want to," said Goomlodia.

"Thanks" Goombella replied with a smile.

* * *

"Well, the thing I can say is that this hotel is a WAY better than the one in Rogueport," said Peach eyeing the beautiful foyer of the 'Lucky 7 Hotel'. It was decorated with bright blue and yellow furniture, with some small light bulbs placed practically everywhere turning on and off, making the hotel look like a casino. 

"I agree with you, Peach," said Mario with a smirk.

"Why don't we go upstairs to check our room, guys?" Luigi suggested after returning with a key in hand.

"Actually, I wanted to explore around and find some stuff that could be useful in our trip," Yosh said.

"And I totally want to check the clothing shops in here," said Bow grinning.

"Okay, okay… why we don't better all go on our own and then meet here at um…six o'clock?" suggested Vivian. "And then tomorrow we can reassume our duties of finding Toadsworth? Plus, Goombella can give us useful information after she returns, so is useless to start without her."

"I totally agree," said Peach, and there was an approving murmur among the gang.

Everyone left in their separate ways. Lady Bow and Vivian were the first to go saying that they will check some of the stores. Yosh, Parakarry and Kooper followed. Mario, Peach and Luigi stayed in the hotel to enjoy the great service it had to offer.

* * *

Meanwhile, Goombella was walking down the streets of Faire Square with Goomlodia, Goomchelle and Malioomba by her side. She had already bought some perfumes, dresses and accessories. The enormous bags of different stores she was carrying around were the proof of it. 

The girls guided Goombella through several streets without stopping on any shop or store. When Goombella was about to ask Goomchelle where they were going, Goomlodia read her mind.

"Here we are," she said airily, "the Star Sanctum". She stepped away so Goombella could have a clear view of the old, yet beautiful circle made of stone of the color of gold in front of her. Rocks shaped like stars surrounded it, giving it a mysterious look. In the middle of the sacred circle was a big stone statue of a shining yellow star.

"Wow…" was the only thing Goombella managed to said under her breath.

**End of chapter.**

**Just to clear doubts, Valspeak is a sociolect talked by some people of California. It is mainly spoken by girls, but boys also talk it a little. It has some elements and phrases of surfer slang and skateboarder slang. The words of this socialect includes the ones such as "gross", "awesome", "fer sure", "totally", and many more. If you haven't noticed, Goombella speaks Valspeak a lot during PMTTYD. **


	7. Date Under a Starry Sky

Chapter 7: Date Under A Starry Sky

At five o'clock, Goombella was looking desperately for the gang. She had managed to escape from Goomlodia's grip, telling her and her friends that she had things to do. After promising them that she would assist the party at Grandon's house at seven, she went away in search of her friends in the festive streets of Faire Square.

"Hey, Luigi!" Goombella yelled when she saw her friend coming out of 'Green and More Stuff' with some pair of green bags under his shoulder. "Over here!"

"Oh, hi Goombella," Luigi said when she saw her approaching. "So, how did it go? Did you manage to get some info?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," said Goombella grinning.

"Oh, cool," uttered Luigi, "We'll get everyone reunited at six in the hotel, so you can tell us all what you got once we get there."

"Okay," agreed Goombella.

"…But we have one hour before coming back, so you are free to go and hang around a little more. The hotel in which we are staying is called 'Lucky 7', between 'Goombamania' and 'Candyland' stores down at Goomfrey's Street" explained Luigi, "Well, I must go; I said I'll meet with Vivian at some kind of tea shop. Seeya around!"

And with that, Luigi left in a hurry down the street leaving Goombella alone again. Now that she was no longer with her new 'rich friends', she had nowhere to go. She decided to explore around and see if she had the chance to meet some other members of the gang in the way.

She walked down the long street taking a look at the shops in the right and left to see something of her interest. She decided to enter an ice cream parlor to buy her favorite dessert: a strawberry-flavored ice cream.

After paying the casher for her ice cream, she was about to leave the place when she saw a bright purple piece of paper lying on the floor. Careful not to drop her ice cream, she bent down to pick up the paper from the floor. She unfolded it and read it.

"_Night is__ the best time to be with the best company at the best place."_

"Um?" murmured Goombella to herself confused by the weird message. The handwriting Goombella recognized as the one of the kidnapper's. But the message didn't seem like a threat to Goombella, not even a request, but indeed a philosophic and romantic message.

Deciding to meditate about the message later, she folded the paper in two and put it inside of one of her many shopping bags.

* * *

"Uff, you were there inside for ages!" said Luigi as he saw Vivian coming out of the bathroom of the tea shop.

"Sorry," she apologized with a giggle. "So, is it time to go back to the hotel?"

"Let me see…" said Luigi looking at his watch, "we have fifteen minutes left".

"So, it seems that we have time for another Koopa Tea," she laughed.

"I think," said Luigi with a smile as both of them sat down in their respective chairs around a small table.

* * *

At six o'clock, the gang was standing in the foyer of the hotel 'Lucky 7'. The last one arriving was Lady Bow, who was now wearing a brand-new light blue bow instead of the two red bows she usually wore.

"Sorry," she murmured holding her breath, "I kinda got lost".

"Don't worry," said Mario, "Now, back to our duties. Goombella, did you get any information from those Goombas?"

"I did," said Goombella. It was clear in her voice that she still felt sorry for abandoning the gang. "I was told the luckiest place in here was the Star Sanctum".

"The Star Sanctum?" was the common question among the others.

"Yea, I also had the chance to visit it;" continued Goombella "Is like a sacred stone circle with a big star statue in the middle".

"But what exactly we have to do there?" asked Peach.

"_Find the luckiest thing in the luckiest place…" _recited Luigi.

"Mm… maybe something is hidden near the Star Sanctum?" suggested Parakarry.

"We should totally check it out!" exclaimed Kooper.

"Yea!" said Yosh out loud and everyone nodded.

* * *

Guided by Goombella, the gang made their way to the Star Sanctum. The sun was starting to hide in a distant hill, but the festive atmosphere in Faire Square remained untouched; some fireworks had started in the west side of the town and mambo music reached the gang's ears from the east side of town.

Surprisingly, the area around the Star Sanctum was completely deserted; not a single soul was walking through those streets.

"Oh, how lucky," said Bow grinning, "Nobody seems to be here".

"Right," said Mario, "So, let's start searching."

"Em… where are we searching exactly?" asked Luigi dumbfounded.

"I don't know, around the star statue, near the rocks, in the perimeter of the circle… just look where you think something may be hidden" said Peach.

Everyone started searching around the Star Sanctum madly. They found nothing apart from five mushroom coins Yosh found in a bush and a rather old boot found by Luigi.

"Uff, there's nothing here," said Kooper throwing a small rock to a tree in desperation.

"Man, you are completely right," said Yosh giving an exhausted huff.

"Why don't we better search for whatever we are searching tomorrow?" said Vivian hopefully.

"I agree…" said Peach giving up.

* * *

The gang made their way back to the hotel looking defeated. Yosh was explaining Goombella how they divided the hotel rooms. Mario and Luigi will be staying in a room. Yosh, Parakarry and Kooper will be staying in another. Goombella and Vivian were staying in the same room. And finally, Peach and Bow will be staying in the last room.

When the gang was crossing the foyer, Goombella remembered something. She had completely forgotten that she promised Goomlodia she would assist the party taking place that night. She looked at her watch: twenty minutes before seven. She had enough time to get dress and go to the party, but she hadn't a partner to go with. Her first thought was Kooper, but she was too embarrassed to ask him.

Holding her breath and then exhaling deeply, Goombella approached Kooper.

"Hey, can we talk for a sec'?" she asked him while the rest of the gang continued climbing the stairs that led to the second floor of the hotel.

"Sure!" said Kooper with energetic voice.

Goombella led Kooper away from all the people and then turned to him.

"Listen I'm having a party tonight," she started nervously, "and we are supposed to bring a partner…and well, I wanted to know if you… well if you wanted… to, you know…go with me.

"Oh," said Kooper surprised, "Fer sure! I would love to go with you."

"Oh, heehee thanks" Goombella said flushing.

"So, at what time is it?" asked Kooper.

"Em… in fifteen minutes," said Goombella embarrassed.

"Ah!" exclaimed Kooper, "So I guess we need to hurry if we wanna make it".

"Yea," said Goombella.

Both of them climbed quickly the stairs and Kooper turned left while Goombella turned right in the fork.

"We'll meet here in the foyer in ten minutes!" Kooper shouted.

Goombella was quickly reading the numbers of the doors to check which was hers. When she passed by one that was open, someone called from the inside.

"Hey! Goombella wait!" she could hear Mario's said. She stopped in her tracks and returned to the room where she heard Mario calling her.

"What?" she asked eagerly showing up in the door of Mario's and Luigi's room.

"We found some info about the Star Sanctum in the internet and we wanted to know if you would like to…"

"I can't," she said in a rush, "I'm about to go to a party with…Kooper".

Mario simply gave her a funny smile and nodded.

"Okay, goodbye then."

Goombella finally reached her room. Vivian was eating peacefully a loaf of bread in a small table inside.

"Why that eager face?" said Vivian smirking.

"Vivian, I need your help, I need to get dressed in about ten minutes, please help me!" pleaded Goombella.

* * *

At seven and one minute, Kooper, who was dressed in elegant black clothes, was still waiting for Goombella to come downstairs in the foyer. He was about to go upstairs to see what was going on, but in that moment he saw her coming down. She looked stunningly beautiful. She wore a beautiful, sparkly sapphire dress, along with some blue earrings placed where her ears would be. Her face was covered with a light layer of make-up, and her eyelashes clearly defined. Instead of her old archaeologist shoes she always wore, she was wearing a pair of shining blue shoes. On top of her head, placed in one side, was the bow Lady Bow was wearing moments ago. How on earth is it possible to get dress so well in a mere ten minutes?

"Wow!" exclaimed Kooper while she helped her climb down the last stair. "You look gorgeous!"

"Thanks;" she said excited, "Let's say that I got a lot of help from my friends".

"I can see that," Kooper joked.

"So…let's go!" hurried Goombella.

"Yea," said Kooper enthusiastically.

Both of them exited the hotel and started to literally run through the dark streets of Faire Square. There were still plenty of people having fun outside, and some fireworks were still on the display on the west side of town, so the place looked as cheerful and energetic as it looked in the day. Indeed, the many lights coming from different directions and the colorful fireworks up in the skies made the town very well illuminated even in plain night.

"Are you sure it's around here?" Kooper asked Goombella looking lost.

"Positive," said Goombella looking at a sketch in front of her which indicated where Grandon's house was. "We should be arriving any moment."

"I think is there," said Kooper pointing an enormous house at the end of the street where the door was clearly open and many people formally-dressed were entering.

"Yea, is it!" said Goombella excitedly.

* * *

"Hey, where are Goombella, Kooper and Vivian by the way?" Yosh asked Mario while he joined the rest of the gang at the pool inside of the hotel by jumping from the edge and entering it with a big splash.

"Goombella and Kooper are going on some kind of date" informed Mario.

"Really?" said Yosh sceptical with an eyebrow raised. "Oh, well, cool for them."

"Oh, I always thought they would make a good couple," said Peach clapping once with her hands.

"And what about Vivian?" asked Parakarry, "I haven't saw her since we arrived here at the hotel."

"She's sick," said Bow looking down, "She ate an out-of-date loaf of bread; she lying in her bed right now."

"Oh, poor of her," said Peach dramatically.

"The pizza is here!" informed Luigi happily from the entrance of the pool room carrying a large pizza in his hands.

"Yummy!" everyone said.

* * *

Two hours had passed since Goombella and Kooper arrived at the party. They had danced in the dance floor almost since the moment they arrived. Now they were sitting in two chairs resting.

"Hey, want some drinks?" Kooper offered Goombella.

"Sure!" accepted Goombella.

"OK, I'll be back in a sec'" said Kooper as he stood up and was immediately lost among the mass of people dancing in the dance floor.

Goombella stared down at the floor for a second to arrange her shoe and she was surprised for what she saw a few feets ago. There stood a similar paper to the one she found in the ice cream parlor. She stood up and walked toward the piece of purple paper. She picked it from the floor and read it. The same message was written down in the purple paper as the one before: _'Night is the best time to be with the best company at the best place'_.

"Here you go," said Kooper offering Goombella a glass of punch. "…Why did you stand from your seat?" he asked her.

"Oh, for nothing," she said grabbing the glass Kooper was offering her with one hand and dropping the piece of paper with the other, "Do you want to dance some more?"

"I'll be delighted," Kooper said grinning offering her a hand.

* * *

"Mario, what are you doing here?" said Peach as she joined Mario in a balcony at the hotel. It was forty minutes past eleven; most of the gang was already sleeping as they had a tiring day.

"Nothing, just thinking" he said smiling at her, "What about you?"

"I…exactly don't know," said Peach actually telling the truth, "I was like wandering around and I accidentally got here".

"Oh, okay," uttered Mario, "You are free to join me" he laughed.

Peach laughed and got closer to Mario and the edge of the balcony to get a better look. Like a hundred of lights from houses were clearly seen down below. Fireworks were still on display up in the sky, while a million of stars smiled at them from above.

"Wow…the look from here is so beautiful…" said Peach awe-struck.

"Yea…"said Mario distractingly while looking dreamily at the sight too. "And look, the Star Sanctum is clearly visible from here".

"Oh, you're right" nodded Peach looking at the enormous star statue made of stone shining beautifully under the starry sky.

* * *

"Do you really want to get back to the hotel?" asked Kooper downhearted.

"Where else can we go?" asked Goombella frowning.

"I don't know, why don't we go to the Star Sanctum?" suggested Kooper.

"What?!" said Goombella incredously. "You want to do some more investigation at these hours?!"

"No to investigate, sheeesshh to sit around and look at the stars," said Kooper grinning at her.

"Oh," said Goombella relaxing, "you got me scared for a sec'. Okay, let's go there."

Both of them made their way to the Star Sanctum. Less people were wandering around in town, so it made it easier for them to reach the Star Sanctum. For Kooper's pleasure, nobody seemed to be there. Both of them reached the big star statue and sat in one of the small star-shaped rocks placed around.

"Wow, you were right," said Goombella looking up at the stars in the sky. "The sight is beautiful."

"Yea, I know" agreed Kooper staring up too.

"Great idea of coming here" said Goombella giving Kooper some credit.

"Thanks," muttered Kooper while looking at a rather shiny star above.

"You're welcome," said Goombella grinning.

"I really had fun tonight," said Kooper moving closer to her.

"Yea, me too…"

"I like you," said Kooper looking at Goombella directly in the eyes. Goombella flinched a little and then froze. Kooper put an arm around her and slowly gave her a kiss.

While Goombella stood there dumbfounded of what had happened, they heard a cracking sound behind them. They turned instantly by instinct and saw that a big hole had opened in front of the big star statue.

They stood up in amusement and quickly went closer to the hole. Some stairs that were leading only to darkness were in there. Then in that weird moment Goombella understood what the message meant; _'Night is the best time to be with the best company at the best place'. _That meant Kooper and her sitting near the Star Sanctum at night. And then that kiss…it seemed that the kiss…their kiss… had opened that hole in front of the Star Sanctum.

**End of chapter.**

**I didn't mention it before but, you may think that Beldam is the Shadow Captor because of that weird appearance she made when the gang was crossing the bridge. But, to tell the truth, she is just a mere servant of the Shadow Captor. Okay, I should tell no more. Until next chapter! Seeya! Thanks for the reviews!**


	8. The Star Sanctum Cave

Chapter 8: The Star Sanctum Cave

"Did you see that?" Mario suddenly asked Peach.

"See what?" Peach asked.

"Those figures moving around the Star Sanctum", answered Mario looking at the pair of figures who were indeed Goombella and Kooper.

"Oh, yea I see them," said Peach now realizing the two figures moving about. "Very weird."

"Hey, look!" exclaimed Mario, "They are entering a hole that is near the sanctum!"

"You're right!" said Peach as surprised as Mario, "That wasn't there before!"

"We should go and investigate," said Mario at once.

"Positive," said Peach, "I'm going to wake up everyone". And with that she left the balcony immediately.

* * *

"I can't see anything!" complained Goombella in complete darkness, "This place is just too dim, let's go back!" 

"No way!" exalted Kooper, "Maybe the item we are looking for is here!"

"Okay," agreed Goombella, "But if I see just one gross, icky thing I'm audi!"

"Okay, then" accepted Kooper.

"Oh! Look; there's something climbing your shoes!" said Kooper faking an alarming voice pointing to one of Goombella's shoes.

"What?!" screamed Goombella shaking her body like crazy, "Take it off me!!"

Kooper laughed. "I was just kidding."

Goombella relaxed and laughed too and then faked an angry voice.

"You are death man!" she joked as she stared to chase after Kooper.

Both of them ran aimlessly, not quite sure where they were going in this darkness. After running for several seconds, they got tired and decided to rest in one rock inside the cave. Suddenly they heard something behind them and when they turned they saw that a big gate of metal bars had blocked the way back.

Goombella and Kooper were about to complain of what had happened when several torches lit in front of them. Now they had a clear view; they were inside a very big room with nothing except of three gigantic chests in the middle of it.

"What had just happened?" asked a worried Goombella hugging Kooper in fear.

"I…have no idea," said Kooper confused looking at the three chests.

"What are these chests?" said Goombella letting go of Kooper and walking closer to get a better look of them.

"I don't know," uttered Kooper, "They hold something inside, I suppose."

Without any warning, the three gigantic chests hovered in the air and opened with a cracking sound. A big key floated out of the middle chest. After it glowed for some seconds, the key returned to its chest and the three chests closed at once. The chests started switching places like madly, going faster every time. At once, the three of them stopped and returned to its place on the floor as if nothing happened.

"Freaky…" uttered Goombella.

"Better… let's get going," suggested Kooper and Goombella nodded.

Both of them made their way to the end of the room. As they approached a door that was in the end, they noticed that it was surrounded with some chains and had a big keyhole in it.

"Oh, crap!" exalted Goombella in disgust.

"Yea, I know, it's closed" said Kooper.

"Not that," said Goombella looking at her feet, "I have some icky thing in one of my shoes." She bent down to take it off with her hand.

"Now, what did you said? Ah! The door's closed!" said Goombella surprised.

"That's what I just said," murmured Kooper rolling his eyes.

They were about to turn back when a silver key fell from the ceiling and hit Kooper in the head.

"Ouch!" he said sobbing his head, "Hey! A key!"

Goombella at once picked it from the floor and put it in the keyhole of the door.

"Argh! It doesn't fit in here!" she replied angrily.

"Maybe," suggested Kooper, "It's for opening one of those chests." He pointed the three chests that remained innocently in their place.

"But which one we should open?" asked Goombella.

Both of them approached the three chests and have a look from the front. They noticed that each had a different margin color: the one in the right had a red one, the middle one a blue one and the left one a green one.

"Darn it!" complained Kooper, "If we had looked which color had the chest that held the key before we should knew which one is it."

"I think this is what the clue referred," said Goombella thinking, _"You need to be lucky to triumph in here…_

All the puzzles in here are to be solved with only pure luck."

Kooper was about to reply when they heard the metal bars lifting. The rest of the gang had just entered through it leaded by Mario.

"C'mon! Let's go before the gate…" shouted Kooper just too late; the metal gate had closed again.

"Ups!" said Parakarry when he noticed that they were trapped with them.

"Hey guys! Doing okay?" asked a worried Luigi.

"Yea we're fine… just trapped in here, like you," said Kooper sadly.

"How long have you been trapped in here?" asked Peach as she and the gang greeted their two missing members.

"Not more than half an hour, I suppose," said Goombella.

"Hey guys!" called Yosh who was walking toward the door in the end. "There's a door here!"

"It won't open," said Goombella at once, "It needs a key."

"What about the one you hold in your hands?" Vivian asked Goombella.

"It won't fit," answered Kooper, "That key is to open one of those chests". He pointed the gigantic chests.

"But…which one we should open?" asked Lady Bow confused.

"That's exactly what we were discussing," said Kooper sadly. "One chest holds the key to open that door, but we don't know which one."

"Let's see," said Mario, "Which person in here is the luckiest one?"

"Peach!"

"Kooper!"

"Peach!"

"Mario!"

"Mario!"

"Lady Bow!"

"Peach!"

"Lady Bow!"

"Peach!"

"It seems that you got the most votes, Peach" said Mario grinning.

"Who? Me?!" said Peach surprised, "There's no way I'm the luckiest one!"

"Oh yea right," said Yosh sarcastically, "There's nothing lucky in being filthy rich!"

Everyone gave Yosh a disapproving glare for being that rude, but Peach didn't seem to hear Yosh because she kept complaining that she wasn't the luckiest one.

"C'mon Peach!" said Goombella, "Everyone knows that you are very lucky! Open a chest!"

"Well, okay! Okay!" agreed Peach at last, "But just don't blame me if I don't pick the correct one."

Goombella handed her the silver key and she walked in front of the three chests, looking at them carefully.

"Mmm…" she murmured thinking, "I think I will pick this one," she finally said while walking to the chest with the green margin. She carefully inserted the silver key in the big keyhole and turned it. For some moments nothing happened, but then the chest slowly opened, giving off a shining light from the inside. Moments later the big key hovered out of the chest and slowly placed itself in Peach's hands.

Peach stared dumbfounded at the enormous golden key in her hands. "I…I did it?"

"Yes!" clapped Goombella, "Congratulations Peach!"

The gang imitated Goombella by clapping too. Peach jumped of happiness and hurried to insert the big golden key in the keyhole of the door. She turned it and the effect was instant; the chains along with the keyhole melted in thin air as if they had never been there.

She turned back and saw that the three big chests were gone too.

"C'mon!" hurried Vivian excitedly, "through the next door!"

The gang nodded and hurried to enter through the next door. Parakarry, who was the last to enter, closed the door behind him. He immediately regretted doing it because the next room was in darkness.

"Look, there are some torches!" exclaimed Luigi excitedly, "But they aren't lit…"

"Hey, that's no prob," said Vivian at once. She raised her index finger of her right hand with enthusiasm. The effect as astonishing; all of the torches that were in the walls were instantly lit with powerful flames.

"Lucky we have Vivian and her Fiery Jinx here," said Goombella grinning to her.

"Why don't we check out this new room?" suggested Yosh looking at the now well-illuminated room.

Everyone nodded and they looked around. The floor had nine black tiles separated a yard from each other divided in three rows of three. Each had a carved number from one to nine. At the end of the wall was a door, with a big number three made of rock above.

"Now what we need to do there?" said Bow clueless.

Kooper was counting the black tiles on the floor and then he counted the party members.

"Well, for one thing, there are nine tiles on the floor and we appear to be nine" he said smartly.

"Maybe each of us needs to stand in those tiles?" suggested Luigi.

"It's worth a try," said Goombella.

"Let's do it then!" called Mario.

The gang quickly scattered around the room and then each placed themselves in one of the black tiles.

"Nothing's happening," said Vivian.

But she wasn't quite right, because suddenly the black tiles started to levitate from the floor, with the scared party members aboard. And then something even scarier happened: the floor below melted mysteriously just as the big chests and the chains did before.

"We are going to fall in the abyss!" screamed Peach completely scared while trying to maintain balance in the tile to prevent herself from falling.

"Oh, please Peach, stay silence!" pleaded Bow.

After the fright happened, everyone had the chance to relax and look around. Everything had remained the same; the door and the big three-shaped rock were still there, as well as the torches. The only thing changed was the floor substituted by a never-ending abyss.

"What we do now?" asked Parakarry worryingly.

Parakarry's question was immediately answered; a mysterious spinning Dice Block suddenly appeared above Mario's head. Mario stared at it confused.

"Do I need to hit this?" he asked to nobody in particular.

"It's worth a try," said Goombella.

Mario cleverly jumped and hit the Dice Block with his head. The Dice Block stopped and showed clearly the number six.

"That's my number," said Goombella looking at the carved six in her tile, "Now what?"

Suddenly she felt her tile shaking like crazy, and then the tile dropped along with Goombella into the abyss.

"Ahhh!" she screamed while she was falling into the abyss.

"Goombella!" everyone shouted.

After some moments, they heard her voice from down below.

"I'm okay," she said from the depths, "This isn't an abyss; there's soft sand here".

Everyone sighed in relief.

"Hey look," exclaimed Peach looking above the door. The big three was no longer there; it had been replaced by a big two.

"I think," said Vivian wishing she was wrong, "We need to get rid of three of us.

That's why the number now changed to two, because Goombella is no longer in here."

The Dice Block hovering above Mario started to spin again. Mario stared at it with fright.

"Should I hit it again?" he asked.

"If we need to progress," said Kooper, "Then yes."

"Don't worry," said Bow, "Now we know that it's a safe fall."

"For you is easy to say," complained Yosh, "You won't even fall! You can float!"

Bow ignored Yosh and turned to Mario again.

"Just hit it already!"

Mario nodded and jumped again to hit the Dice Block. The number it now showed was three.

"Oh, crap!" exclaimed Luigi, "That's me!"

The same thing happened with Luigi: his tile started shaking like crazy and moments later it dropped down just like Goombella's did.

"Doing okay?" asked Mario to his brother looking down.

"Yea," said Luigi somewhat sad for being taken away from all the action.

"Uff," said Peach looking at the now formed one at the top of the door, "One more."

Mario closed his eyes and hit the Dice Block for the last time. The number now displayed was one.

"Oh, it's me!" said Parakarry not looking too worried.

Parakarry's tile shook and then dropped like the two before. But Parakarry didn't fall with it; he was hovering innocently in midair.

"Lucky I can float" he said smiling.

"That makes the last one," said Peach looking at the one that was now melting.

When the rock-shaped one at the top of the door was gone, the tiles started to move and form a straight path to the now opened door.

"C'mon, let's go!" said Vivian.

"We'll come back for you, guys!" shouted Kooper looking down downhearted thinking about poor Goombella down there.

"Okay!" Goombella and Luigi shouted back from the depths of darkness.

The seven remaining party members entered through the next door.

Good for them, the next room was well-illuminated. It was empty for the exception of seven large vases scattered around the room big enough for a person to fit in there and a locked door at the far end.

"This is just great," said Peach with sarcasm, "Now what _funny_ game we are gonna play?

"Look, guys," said Yosh, "There are some words inscribed in that wall."

Mario approached the wall Yosh was pointing and read out loud for the others.

"Choose a vase in which to hide and hope is strong enough to survive an explosion".

"Uh?" asked a confused Parakarry.

"Which explosion?" asked Vivian as confused as Parakarry.

Vivian regretted asking when a big, no, MASSIVE Bomb-omb fell from above. Its fuse was dangerously lit. The gang panicked. Peach quickly ran toward the door that led to the previous room.

"Ah!" she bellowed trying to open the door "Is closed!"

"No!" said Kooper quickly to Yosh who was about to attack the big Mezzo Bomb. "If you attack it you will make it explode!"

"Then what we do?" asked Bow desperately.

"Do what the message says," said Mario at once, "There's no other choice."

Everyone with crossed fingers hurried to hide inside a vase. Kooper covered his ears immediately after he got inside his vase. Moments later he heard the explosion clearly, even with his ears covered. He noticed that his vase wasn't even broken a little bit.

He exited his vase to look at what had happened. He saw Mario, Yosh and Vivian coming out from their vases, but there was no trace of Peach, Parakarry or Bow…

"No! Peach…!" Mario said desperate as he looked at the shattered vase Peach had entered before the explosion.

"I'm sure she's okay, as well as the others," said Vivian at once.

"How can you be so sure?" asked Yosh incredously.

"C'mon," said Vivian, "If they were really…well, death, there would be blood spattered everywhere."

"The sooner we finish this," said Kooper thinking of Goombella, "The sooner we'll get reunited with them."

"Yea, your right!" approved Yosh, "C'mon let's get going."

"But the door's still closed…" said Vivian disappointed.

"Here," said Mario holding a key in his hands, "I found it on the floor when I was coming out of the vase."

"Cool!" said Yosh, "Now, let's get going."

The gang hurried to enter through the locked door with the help of the key Mario found.

This new room consisted of a locked door at the end (no surprise for the gang) and a big roulette wheel like the one of a casino in the floor.

"Wow look at this gigantic roulette!" exclaimed Yosh.

All of the gang approached the roulette wheel to have a better look of it. The wheel was divided in ten equal portions. Each part had a drawing of a different creature: a Cleft, a Piranha Plant, a Pider, a Magikoopa, an Amazee Dayzee, a wild Goomba, a Bomb-omb, a Dry Bones, a Blooper and a Toad.

"We should spin this, or what?" asked Yosh looking at the wheel with apprehension.

"The question is how," said Vivian.

"Look, there's some kind of switch in here," said Kooper noticing a switch on the floor near the edge of the wheel. He carefully stood over it. The switch was pressed down and the roulette wheel started to spin with mid-speed.

"There's another one here," said Mario pressing a switch that was in the opposite edge of the wheel. The roulette started losing speed and then it completely stopped spinning and the arrow stopped in the drawing of the wild Goomba.

Out of nowhere, half-a-dozen wild Goombas appeared and started to chase after the gang. Doing basic attacks and teamwork, the team managed to destroy them all easily.

"Uff," said Vivian, "I guess that wasn't expected."

"So," said Kooper, "Which drawing we should score to get the key to open the door?"

"We should think," said Vivian, "Which of these creatures would never hurt us?"

"The Toad," said Yosh at once, "They are all rainbows and lollypops."

"Okay, so this time, we'll try to hit the Toad," said Mario. He looked at Kooper who nodded. Kooper activated the switch again and the roulette started to spin again. Mario tried to calculate the speed of the wheel and then pressed the switch when he thought it would stop in the Toad. To his displeasure, it stopped in the Amazee Dayzee.

"Everyone! Cover your ears!" yelled Yosh as four Amazee Dayzees appeared out of thin air and started to sing in a calm lullaby.

Vivian quickly ran away from them with her ears covered. When she was far enough and out of earshot from the Amazee Dayzees' lullaby, she performed a powerful Fiery Jynx. The Amazee Dayzees stopped singing and started to run like mad in pain, flames all over their flowery bodies.

The other three gang members finished them. Mario did his Multibounce jump attack to finish off two Amazee Dayzees simultaneously. Yosh performed his Ground Pound over the Amazee Dayzee nearest to him. And Kooper gave the final blow to the last one with his Shell Toss attack.

"Uff," said Yosh exhausted, "C'mon, let's spin it again."

Kooper activated the switch again to make the wheel spin, and Mario activated the other doing some prediction on where it will stop. Again, he failed to score in the Toad and the arrow rested in the Piranha Plant instead.

"Shoot!" exclaimed Yosh, "We were so close this time!"

They were expecting for a few Piranha Plants to appear, but they haven't expected a complete dozen.

"Ah!" yelled Vivian while trying to fight three Piranhas simultaneously, "They are many of them! We can't take them down!"

"C'mon," said Mario while he managed to kill one with a Hammer attack, "Let's think on how to defeat them all at once!"

"Leave that to me!" said Kooper while he hid in his shell to avoid being bitten by a Piranha Plant and then he performed his Dizzy Shell attack with all his might. All of the Piranha Plants ended dizzy.

"Well, that didn't kill them, but it will make the work easier," said Yosh while performing his Yoshi Punch to vanquish a dizzy Piranha Plant whose head was spinning madly in confusion and dizziness.

It took them a while to kill all of the Piranha Plants, even if they were dizzy. When Vivian killed the last one with her Shade Fist, Kooper hurried to activate the switch again. Mario, inhaling deep, stepped in the other when he thought it would stop in the Toad. And thanks god it did.

"Finally!" said Vivian with cheer.

A single small Toad appeared out of nowhere carrying a big golden key in his small hands. He shyly deposited it in Mario's hands and then instantly disappeared.

"Oh! Thanks Toad!" Vivian shouted to nowhere looking quite blissful.

"Uff, this was a tricky room" said Kooper as they were walking toward the door at the end of the room.

"I agree," said Yosh, "I would be delighted to exit this freaky place for weirdos."

They reached the next room with the key the Toad gave Mario. Daylight could be seen through a big opening in the ceiling with a ladder coming down. In the middle of the room was a pedestal made of rock. In the top of it rested a beautiful hourglass made of gold which shined reluctantly under the light coming from above. At the feet of the pedestal where all their missing members, apparently put under a sleeping spell.

"They are okay," said Mario who was the first one to check on their missing partners, "They seem to be sleeping…just sleeping."

"If this is the final room of the cave," said Kooper thoughtful, "Where is Toadsworth, then?"

"Maybe he was already removed from here and taken away somewhere else," said Vivian sadly.

"Still," said Yosh holding the golden hourglass that was once in the pedestal and looking at it with interest, "We were compensated for our efforts and received a prize."

**Uff, finally end of chapter :P. I know this chapter was a bit longer than the others but it was because this was the first 'dungeon' of the story. Hope you liked it. And I also wanted to thank**** for all your reviews, thanks :). Oh, and for krisetchers, Toadsworth is not death xD, but thankz for your guessings. Until next chapter.**


	9. Rangers in the Forest

Chapter 9: Rangers in the Forest

"Remember me why we are still here?" asked Yosh impatiently to Mario from across the table.

"Because we are waiting for Goombella," answered Mario for the fifth time while taking a bite of his Zess Deluxe, "She is saying good-bye to her rich friends."

"Oh, yea right," said Yosh rolling his eyes.

The gang was back at the travel trailer. The sleeping partners had already waked up, and the others had told them with luxury detail what had happened in the last room (and in the third room, to Goombella and Luigi). After they exited the cave, they have noticed that they were in some kind of hill atop of Faire Square. With difficulty, and carrying their sleeping members, the gang made their way back to the travel trailer. They were pleased to see that Toadette was waiting for them with some delicious Spicy Soup already at the dinning table. Luigi was the only one who wasn't happy with it; he murmured something about "cooking is MY job…" Being offended by Toadette, Luigi retaliated by doing a Zess Deluxe, a Courage Meal, some Koopa Buns and some Healthy Salad for everyone to prove who was the best chef. Toadette didn't say anything, but she merrily enjoyed Luigi's food as well. Everyone was having a great time, for the exception of Peach, who kept remembering in her head that they haven't found her steward at all. The idea of poor Toadsworth trapped in some damp ugly cell made her sick.

Before the fest had begun, however, Goombella said that she was going to say goodbye to Goomlodia, Goomchelle and Malioomba, so she departed off to Faire Square's streets again.

"Hey, Yosh," asked Bow who was several seats away from him, "Have you found out what that hourglass is for?"

"No luck," said Yosh disgruntled, "I have searched in several books… even I had some help from Goombella, but we found nothing yet."

In that precise moment, Goombella arrived. Sweat was all over her face, as if she had run all the way there.

"Guys, I need you to come with me!" she said gasping for breath in front of the rest of the gang who was still eating in the dinning table.

"What is it, Goombella?" asked Mario worrywart.

"Yea, now what?" said Yosh with disdain.

"Our captor left a message in Goomlodia's house!" she said eagerly.

In an instance, everyone stood up, leaving any food they were eating, and left the travel trailer. From there, they were guided by Goombella to Goomlodia's house. It was surprising how all the people could be so happy playing, shopping in the markets, and doing all kinds of stuff while all the bad things had to happen to them.

When they arrived at Goomlodia's enormous house, Goombella went up front to knock the door.

"Wow…great house…" whispered Parakarry completely amazed.

Moments later, the door was opened by a frightened Goomlodia.

"Oh! Goombella, you are back!" she said with an unsteady voice, "Come in! Come in! Your friends can enter too."

Goomlodia led the gang to a large sitting room where Goomchelle and Malioomba were drinking nervously some tea, looking scared like Goomlodia did. However, Malioomba's face seemed to brighten when she saw Mario coming through the doors. Same thing happened with Goomchelle when she saw Kooper coming in. As the gang approached the pair, Goomlodia invited them to have seat. Kooper sat down in the same sofa as Goomchelle, in the opposite end.

"Mind if get closer?" Goomchelle instantly asked Kooper, "I dropped some tea in this side of the sofa and is like all wet."

"No, not at all," answered Kooper oblivious to Goomchelle's intention while making some space for her to sit.

"Goomlodia, can you please repeat what you told me before? About how it happened?" asked Goombella to Goomlodia who was sitting in a sofa across the table.

"Well," started Goomlodia nervously, "We were just sitting here minding our business when someone strongly threw a rock from the outside and broke the window."

Everyone turned to where Goomlodia was pointing to see, indeed, the broken window and some shattered pieces all over the floor.

"And about the message…?" said Goombella eagerly.

"Well," Malioomba decided to continue, hoping to bring Mario's attention who was sitting in the sofa next to her, "After the incident happened, we went closer and then like, we picked the rock from the floor--."

"And then," finished Goomchelle who was getting closer and closer to Kooper without anyone noticing, "We noticed that it had a message inscribed all over it."

"Can we see the rock?" asked Luigi instantly.

Goomlodia nodded and stood up from the sofa and left the room. She returned moments later with a big, black rock in her hands.

"We washed it," she said while handing the rock to Luigi, "So the message could be seen more clearly."

Luigi saw that the black rock had some red letters inscribed all over it. He read out loud the clue for everyone:

_A batter cake I am__,  
but of fighters I live.  
The prize is what you claim  
on this sweaty pit._

"Any ideas where this place could be?" Bow asked in general.

"This place…? What are you talking about?" asked a confused Goomlodia demanding for an answer.

"Well…" Peach started. She told everything to Goomlodia and the girls, from the kidnapping of Toadsworth to the Star Sanctum Cave.

"Hey what are you doing?!" Kooper whispered to Goomchelle who had put her head on his lap. Kooper immediately pushed her away, and Goomchelle felt more offended than ever in her entire life. She merely huffed and turned away from him. Goomlodia, who haven't noticed the uncomfortable moment between Kooper and Goomchelle (neither the others), was telling Peach how sorry she felt after hearing her story.

"Well, now let's go back to the trailer, or Toadette will worry why we are taking so much time," said Mario who was staring to get nervous by Malioomba's attempts of seduction. He wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

"Yea you are right…" agreed Goombella, "Goomlodia, do you mind if we take the rock?"

"No, not at all…but, but…what if the captor comes here to attack again?" asked Goomlodia looking panicked.

"They won't," said Yosh instantly, "They 'gave' you the clue because they knew that we will come here, but now that we got it I don't think they will bother you again."

"I really hope so," Goomlodia said now more relaxed.

* * *

After several goodbyes, mainly from Goombella, the gang returned to the travel trailer with the rock in their possession. Mario and Kooper totally denied saying goodbye to them for the exception of Goomlodia, being afraid that the pair of Goomba girls would do something pervert if they get close enough.

"Well," said Vivian now back in the travel trailer, "Now we have the clue, but where we are heading?"

"I don't know exactly…" said Goombella who, with the help of Mario, was trying to decipher the clue in the rock and peering through several maps spread across the table. Kooper couldn't help looking at her from time to time. They haven't talked yet of what happened back in the Star Sanctum, and every time Goombella noticed him looking at her she instantly turned away in embarrassment. When he talked to her she was always avoiding his eyes and invented an excuse to get away.

Kooper was still looking at her from across the table when he heard Parakarry's voice as if he was miles away when actually he was right next to him.

"Why don't we stop somewhere to have lunch? We won't solve the clue with an empty stomach." Parakarry said to everyone.

"Yea!" said Peach somewhat happy, "We can have a picnic!"

"I agree; I can cook whatever you want," said Luigi instantly, "But where can we do a picnic? There's just seem to be trees and trees everywhere I turn." He added while peering through one of the windows.

"Oh, I know the perfect spot," said Parakarry confidently. "Is not so far from here; just keep driving, okay, Toadette?"

"Okay!" Toadette shouted from the front seat.

Peach, Vivian and Goombella went upstairs to help Luigi with the food, and Kooper, Parakarry, Mario, Yosh and Bow were talking downstairs. They all were unaware of the trap that was being set few meters away.

In a flash, a black figure using an axe slashed one of the tires of the travel trailer as it was passing by.

"Ahhh!" shouted Toadette while the trailer was starting to move like crazy, "I lost control of the trailer!"

The uncontrolled trailer made a brusque turn to the left and crashed into a nearby tree.

"Toadette, what happened?" asked a worried Peach. All the gang have come back downstairs, and all of them had a dumbfound expression.

"I don't know, I was driving when—" but Toadette's answer was drowned when she saw wide-eyed the figures that stood in front of the trailer. "There are some people out there."

The gang by instinct exited the travel trailer, followed by Toadette.

"Who are you?" shouted Mario angrily to the five mysterious figures that were giving their back to the gang.

"We fight for evil!" shouted the one in middle while turning to face them and posing in a 'cool' way. He looked like a red machine-like creature with a malicious face and a pointy spear on top of his head. In his hand he wielded a big axe which matched the same color as his body.

"We live for disorder!" said the one that was to the left of the red machine creature as he turned too and posed. He looked very cool for being a machine. Unlike his partner, he was black and wore a pair of fancy shades, but he also wielded a mighty axe of the same color of his body.

"We like what we do!" said the one at the very far right while turning to them and posing. He was green in color and was a way more skinner and taller than his other pals. Even his axe (green in color also) looked weaker and smaller compared to the other two.

"We struggle for chaos!" said the one at the far left, also turning and posing in a girly way. She was pink with long eyelashes and her face was covered by a thin layer of make-up. She waved her pink axe with glamour and winked to the gang.

"We are…" said the last one also turning and posing like the rest. He was yellow and had a larger volume than his partners; possibly he was wider than taller. This chubby machine creature also wielded a bigger and scarier axe than his pals.

"THE POWER RANGERS???" Luigi asked out loud incredously to the machines.

"No! This can't be! They are the Axem Rangers!" cried Peach loudly.

"HEY! DON'T steal our words, girl!" shouted Axem Red angrily to Peach.

"The Axem Rangers?" said Goombella with an eyebrow raised.

"I've never heard of them…" said Vivian watching the Axem Rangers with curiosity.

"But this can't be!" said Mario wide-eyed, "We destroyed you long time ago!"

"Correction," said Axem Green with an intellectual voice, "You destroyed the original copies, not us!"

The only ones who seemed to understand the conversation was Mario and Peach. That was because they had personally defeated the original Axem Rangers long time ago at Barrel Volcano, where they sank in the lava along with their enormous warship, the Blade.

"But how?" Mario asked sternly, "We defeated Exor; wasn't he supposed to be the portal between the two worlds?"

"Exor? The portal? Mario, what are you talking—?" But Goombella's questioning was interrupted by Axem Black.

"That's correct, smart guy," he laughed at Mario, "But Exor was the portal for YOU to enter OUR world; in the Factory there's a portal for US to enter YOUR world."

"We were the only ones that survived," said Axem Pink proudly, "So after a hard struggle we managed to enter this world through Exor2".

"But what you want from us now?" asked Peach in a high-pitched voice.

"You seem to have SOMETHING in your possession that can help us bring back Smithy to life" said Axem Red.

"We do?" asked Yosh wide-eyed.

"So give us the Golden Hourglass now or we'll show no mercy!" threatened Axem Yellow.

**End of chapter :P. The battle of the gang v.s. the axem rangers will be on next chapter. By the way, the place where the clue indicates I had already mentioned it before, so look carefully in the chapters before! Until next chap! **


	10. In Need of Waffles

**Uff finally I update xD. Well, here finally the battle of Mario's gang against the Axem Rangers. I really tried to do my best in this one. I think I kinda lost the touch, because I dropped writting stories because school started and my life now consists of school, friends, girlfriend, homework, family, parties, XVs... etc. etc. so now I have a really short time for writting stories, and the next vacations are until December x(. I wanted to thank all of your reviews :), without them I wouldn't care continue writting this. Thanks!**

Chapter 10: In Need of Waffles

"The Golden Hourglass?" said Vivian confused.

"That's the name of that weird thing we found?" asked Goombella.

"Well, you can't say it has a very clever or mysterious name" said Yosh frowning at the obvious.

"But how can you use that thing to resurrect Smithy?" asked Peach to the Axem Rangers.

"That doesn't concern YOU, chumps!" replied fiercely Axem Black.

"So give us the Golden Hourglass NOW! Or prepare to brawl!" yelled Axem Red.

"Err… Actually Red, the correct term used in this situation should be 'fight'," said Axem Green in a know-it-all tone, "you see the word 'brawl' is described in the dictionary as—"

"Green, shut up!" the rest of the Axem Rangers shouted in a unison voice.

"Then we battle!" said Goombella giving a step forward.

"That's right!" said Mario to bring some support to his friend.

The others found courage from the other two and agreed to battle too.

"Now, listen," said Mario important-like turning to all his gang, "They are only five and we are ten. We are going to divide in pairs. Peach and Bow you fight Axem Pink."

Peach and Bow nodded.

"Goombella and Vivian, you fight Axem Green." The pair of girls nodded, "Parakarry and Yosh, you fight Axem Black." ("We are gonna kick that machine's ass!" said Yosh while he high-fived with Parakarry). "Toadette and Luigi, you fight Axem Yellow" both of them nodded, "And finally, you and I will fight Axem Red," Mario finished directing to Kooper.

"Ejem, do YOU mind if we join your little tea party?" said Axem Pink sarcastically.

"Time's OVER, dudes!" said Axem Black, "Fight or get out of our way!"

"Okay, let's go, guys!" cheered Mario to his party.

As Mario instructed, the gang was facing their corresponding Ranger in pairs. A chaos started; it seemed that no one knew what was happening at their surroundings or how their partners were doing in their fight, as they were focusing only on their opponent or opponents.

Toadette was avoiding Axem Yellow from squishing her from above while Luigi was attacking him with Fireballs. The only problem was that Axem Yellow kept eating them full of satisfaction.

"Yummy! They taste very well for being Fireballs!" he said while eating the fifth Fireball Luigi threw attempting to damage him.

Peach and Bow were working in pairs and took turns to strike Axem Pink, Peach with hand slaps and Bow with her fan. Axem Pink was retaliating with some axe swings, but her attack was so weak that it barely damaged the girls. When she thought she was going down, Axem Pink did her Recover move on herself.

Parakarry and Yosh were having some trouble with Axem Black. He moved extremely fast for the human eye that he was managing to avoid every single attack the boys performed. Axem Black attacked them every time he could with his own axe or by throwing some mighty bombs at them.

Vivian and Axem Green were in a wicked battle of magic spells and jinxes while Goombella was giving Vivian some support by attacking Axem Green physically. In a careless move from part of Goombella, Axem Green took the opportunity and used Solidify on her, a powerful spell that froze the victim on ice. Vivian immediately thaws her out of the ice by performing her Fiery Jynx, which left Axem Green completely amused by Vivian's powerful witch abilities.

Mario and Kooper were also having some problems with the leader of the Axem Rangers. Mario's Fireballs and Axem Red's Glowing Balls collapsed constantly in midair producing minor explosions, and Kooper was trying to hit Axem Red with his Shell Shot attack but he kept protecting himself using his axe as shield.

"Bow, watch out!" Peach shouted as she saw Axem Pink jumping from behind Bow with her axe fiercely positioned in front of her. Bow Disappeared just in time and Axem Pink's axe attack missed and she fell to the ground.

"Attacking from behind is just weak!" Bow shouted in indignation to the Axem Pink lying on the floor struggling to stand up. With a movement of her hand, Bow Summoned Axem Pink's axe who was lying a feet away from its owner. Axem Pink tried to grab it before it Disappeared but she failed: just as her fingers touched the pink axe it disappeared in a white smoke and materialized again in Bow's open hand.

With such force Peach thought Bow wasn't capable of possessing, she swung the pink axe back and then directly to the weak Axem Pink standing in front of her. The axe hit successfully its target directly in the face. Axem Pink flew a few yards back while screaming in pain.

With all the force she could find, Axem Pink lifted herself from the ground and stared in anger at her opponents. A visible cut could be seen in her metallic cheek, but no blood came out. She was preparing herself to use Recover.

"Oh, not those frigging recovering moves again, Miss!" Peach said while taking the pink axe from Bow and swiftly throwing it to Axem Pink in a boomerang fashion. Poor Axem Pink was hit again and she fell to the ground with another cut slashed in her face, while her face was covered in sweat and a soft white substance was running through her face.

"Yo, Red!" Axem Pink shouted. Even with all the uproar taking place in each of the battles her scream was heard clearly.

"What is it, Pink?!" Axem Red shouted while barely avoiding Kooper's Dizzy Shell attack. "I'm BUSY!"

"My make-up is running!" shouted Axem Pink back.

"Then change brands!"

* * *

"I'm over here, chump!" said Axem Black who was standing right behind Yosh making fun of him. Yoshi turned swiftly and performed his Yoshi Punch but it hit nothing but thin air: Axem Black was no longer there and now was some yards away now trying to trick Parakarry, who was hovering some meters above and avoiding Axem Black axe attack.

Yosh took the opportunity that Axem Black was distracted attacking Parakarry and gave the particular whistle needed to perform a Yoshi Herd. Out of thin air about fifty Yoshis in a pack appeared rambling at reckless speed toward Axem Black. The Yoshis hit no one but Axem Black itself; Parakarry hovered just in time to avoid the passing Yoshis and Toadette almost got hit when she was passing by running away from Axem Yellow's attacks. Axem Black flew some meters backwards while the Yoshi Herd disappeared in thin air.

"All yours, Parakarry!" Yosh said to him and he responded with an approving nod.

Parakarry Sky Dived into Axem Black, who was barely standing on his feet. His downward kick hit its target in the face and it fell over.

"Finish him, Yosh!" Parakarry exclaimed.

Yosh didn't need to be told twice; he ran toward the fallen Axem Black and hit him with a powerful Yoshi Punch which made him fly over all the fighters and collapsed in a tree near where Axem Red, Mario and Kooper were having a terrifying battle.

"Yo, Red!" Axem Black yelled to Axem Red.

"WHAT NOW?!" Axem Red said completely angered, "Can't you see I'm BUSY?"

"I broke my shades!" exclaimed Axem Black preoccupied.

"Then use some tape…!"

* * *

Now that their opponent was down, Parakarry and Yosh scanned the scene to see what was happening with the others. Peach and Goombella where resting under a tree with minor injuries: Goombella had a scratch on her face while Peach, judging the way she grabbed her leg, seemed to have a twisted ankle. Mario and Kooper kept fighting the leader of the Axem Rangers, without having too much success. Bow had replaced Goombella's place, and now Vivian and her were fighting Axem Green with powerful magic powers. Toadette and Luigi were fighting Axem Yellow, who, for a strange reason, seemed fatter and bigger than before.

"You go and help Toadette and Luigi," Yosh said to Parakarry, "I will go and help Mario and Kooper. We suck at magic, so it's better if we let Vivian and Bow handle Axem Green."

Parakarry nodded, and he and Yosh ran in separate ways to help their friends.

Half an hour passed, and Axem Green was down. Vivian's and Bow's magical skills fused together were too powerful for Axem Green to handle.

"Yo, RED!"

"What do you want NERD?!"

"I have a headache!"

"Then take some aspirin…!"

* * *

Still, before he was knocked out, Axem Green managed to bring down Toadette with an electrical Static E attack when she was passing by, hitting her instead of Vivian. However, no serious damage was done. She wasn't even hurt, just knocked out.

Now the battle was divided between Yosh, Mario and Kooper against Axem Red and, Bow, Vivian, Parakarry and Luigi against Axem Yellow. Now having magical skills on their side, Parakarry and Luigi found it easier to fight Axem Yellow while the girls performed all kinds of spells from distance.

"You don't have a chance against ME!" Axem Yellow shouted in a stupid voice to his opponents. "Taste my Bubble attack!"

This time he made a Bubble larger than normal, and threw it in a lob-fashion to his opponents. Bow was trying to Summon the colossal Bubble but it was too big for her skills. Meanwhile, Vivian was trying to burn it with her Fiery Jynx but neither worked.

"C'mon Bow, you are our only chance!" said Luigi desperately, "If this thing explodes on the ground it will knock out all of us!"

Bow concentrated with all her might, so much that she was trembling a little. At last she managed to Summon the big Bubble which was about to crash on them, and then she threw it back at Axem Yellow fiercely. Axem Yellow, who wasn't expecting this surprising attack, was hit by the big Bubble and flew backwards.

"Yo RED!" he shouted.

"What the HELL do you want now?" said Axem Red completely frustrated now.

"… I'm hungry!"

"Then chew on your tongue!"

"But I want waffles…"

* * *

"Okay, so now is seven against one!" shouted Mario in triumph to Axem Red "So you better give up!"

"Give up?" Axem Red laughed, "That my foolish partners are stupid enough to be defeated by losers like you doesn't mean that I am. I will destroy you ALL!"

So the battle went on. Ten minutes later Parakarry was knocked out by Axem Red's powerful axe, but the other six continued battling. Peach, Goombella and Toadette, who had just waked up, were cheering the others with positive thoughts.

It seemed completely amazing the long stamina Axem Red possessed. Mario's last battle with him was a lot easier. Another ten minutes passed… Bow was knocked out too…

Goombella, deciding that it was her duty to help her friends in a time like this, despite her injuries, went to help and substitute Bow's place.

"Okay! IS time to get serious!" said Axem Red full of anger. He raised his hands over his head and created a dangerous-looking red energy ball. With one swift movement he threw it to the gang. No counterattack worked on the energy ball, and it impacted all of them with a big explosion. Peach's and Toadette's scream could be heard over the explosion. As the black smoke dispelled, the six members could be seen on the ground, with ashes over their bodies.

"Time to finish YOU!" said Axem Red preparing to create another energy ball.

When the energy ball was created, he threw it with all his might to the fallen opponents. But then something happened. Out of nowhere, Peach placed herself between the energy ball and the fallen partners. Placing her hands with palms open and toward the energy ball, she started creating some kind of magical shield. She was concentrating too much; her entire face started sweating. Then the energy ball impacted the shield; for one second, Toadette and Parakarry thought the energy ball would break it, and Peach thought it also. But to her amusement, the energy ball bounced in the shield and went flying to its owner. The energy ball hit Axem Red, and a big explosion occurred. Peach felt so weak, and after she dispelled the magical shield, she fell to the ground. She started losing consciousness…

* * *

"Peach, wake up" Peach could hear Mario said with a soft voice.

Peach slowly opened her eyes, and she was delighted to see Mario smiling at her. She was in the third floor of the trailer, lying in bed. Mario was sitting in the bed next to hers, and leaning forward to have a better look at her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked worried.

"I'm fine," she said forcing a smile, "I just feel so weak…"

"Parakarry and Toadette told me what happened," Mario said, "You were very brave".

"Thanks…" Peach answered as she felt her cheeks flushing, "And, how's everyone?"

"Fine," Mario said with a smirk, "A few scratches but everyone fine. Everyone's having dinner downstairs. They said they will come to check on you later".

"Oh, good," Peach said with relief, "And what happened to the Axem Rangers?"

"After their leader was defeated, they escaped away, those cowards…"

"Oh, well at least they didn't take the Golden Hourglass."

"Yea, true. Meanwhile, you do want something to eat or drink? Luigi made an excellent feast today."

Peach chuckled, though weakly. "No thanks, I'm fine."

"Okay," said Mario leaning forward and kissing her in the cheek, "I will be downstairs with the others. If you need something don't hesitate to call. You go and get some good rest; you need it".

After Peach nodded, Mario stood up from the bed and returned back downstairs.

"How's she doing?" Goombella was the first to ask when she saw Mario coming down.

"Fine, she just needs some rest."

"Oh, that's a good thing to hear" said Vivian, who was helping Luigi prepare some muffins.

"Mario, do you think the Rangers are on the same side as our mysterious kidnapper?" Yosh asked as Mario sat down on a chair on the opposite side of the table.

"I'm not quite sure…" Mario responded honestly.

"They were good before, right?" Luigi asked in general. "I mean I remember watching their TV program when I was little and they were fighting evil, not for evil. Oh, I'm sad I didn't get their autograph."

"Luigi," said Goombella while trying not to laugh, while the others were chuckling, "Those weren't the Power Rangers".

"Oh, they weren't?" Luigi said disappointed, "Then an imitation?"

Goombella rolled her eyes and then smiled. "Hm… yea Luigi, they were an imitation".

Everyone laughed.

"Oh, it's a shame that we still don't have a clue where we are going next." Vivian said with disappointment.

"I wouldn't say that" said Yosh with a smirk.

"What are you saying?" asked Parakarry confused.

"Well, remember what Axem Yellow said before he was knocked out?"

There was a 'no…' among the others.

"Well, he said that he wanted waffles…"

"So what?" Kooper said.

"That made me remember something…

When I free the Boos in the Forever Forest, I asked Bootler why the Duplighost King wanted the Ghost Gem. And he told me that maybe he wanted it to become stronger and then compete in the Waffle Pit…"

"So…?" said Goombella still clueless.

"Argh, do you fail to get it?" said Yosh losing patience, "That's it, that's the next location. Check the clue."

Luigi, who was the closest to the rock with the clue inscribed, grabbed the rock from a small table and returned to the dinning table with the others. He read out loud:

_A batter cake I am__,  
but of fighters I live.  
The prize is what you claim  
on this sweaty pit._

"See?" said Yosh smartly, " 'A batter cake I am…' well, that's the waffle, 'But of fighters I live…' that means to say the location is an arena. The Waffle Pit, it's obvious. Then, 'The prize is what you claim on this sweaty pit…' well, that means to say that we need to win the tournament taking place in there to get Toadsworth back".

Everyone was astonished by Yosh's smartness. Goombella was the first to recover from his comment.

"Yosh… you are a complete genius!"

**End of chapter. Hope you enjoyed it and that your time reading this was well wasted haha. I will try to update as soon as possible, believe me, so I will update this story in about two weeks at least? Well thanks for reading! Review! Bye!**


	11. The Hooded Thief

**Finally I update. I know I took too long; sorry about that. Very busy schedule, you know :S. But well, hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a bit longer than the others so yea, I hope that's a good thing to you.**

**I don't know Mario and Co. but I do own Klen and Yosh.**

**Oh, and yea, I don't own Starbucks :)**

Chapter 11: The Hooded Thief

A charming sunset was set in the distance past the trees of the forest. The gang was having the picnic in the spot Parakarry said, for the exception of Toadette, who returned to Faire Square by foot to get a repair for the flat tire. It was good to relax at least for a couple of hours, at least Peach thought so. After everyone ate the sandwiches Luigi carefully prepared, everyone went in their separate ways. Luigi, Mario and Kooper were swimming in a lake near where they set the picnic. Vivian and Bow were having a magic duel, having in mind that they might compete in the Waffle Pit, they would need some training, and Yosh and Parakarry were just watching, completely amused and cheering the girls. Peach and Goombella sat on the grass, simply talking.

"… Now he doesn't want to talk to me or he simply avoids me," said Goombella in the verge of tears to Peach, who was listening carefully to her friend's words, "The worst thing is that is my fault; He was trying to talk to me at first but I was the one ignoring him, I guess I was kinda… scared."

"Climbing a higher step in a relationship is always scary," said Peach putting her hand on Goombella's shoulder, or where it would be if she had, "What you need to think is, do you really love Kooper or you just like him as a friend?"

"I don't think we can be friends now, not after what happened," said Goombella looking at the grass and avoiding eye contact with Peach, "But I'm sure I don't want to be friends with him, I want us to be something more…"

"Then tell him! Tell him how you feel about it!" said Peach trying to encourage her friend.

"Yea, I want to!" said Goombella watching Kooper swimming in the lake, competing in races against Mario and Luigi, "But he's like, so… damn stern".

"Well, then you have something in common" said Peach jokingly, and both girls laughed.

"If you want, I can try to talk to him" said Peach after both stopped laughing.

"No!" Goombella said immediately, "I mean, thanks, but I would prefer if we solve this by ourselves"

"Cool, then"

"Still, I don't seem to be the only one who is in love with someone," said Goombella playfully looking first at Peach and then at Mario down at the lake.

"What do you mean?!" said Peach who blushed, "I'm not…!"

"Oh, c'mon Peach is so damn obvious!" said Goombella forcing herself not to chuckle, "Admit it!"

"Oh, well, I… I…" started mumbling Peach when out of nowhere an energy ball crashed on the grass a feet away from Peach making a loud bang, "Bow!!" Peach yelled in anger, "Watch where you are aiming! If another energy ball crashes near here I swear you will regret it…!"

* * *

After the relaxing picnic was over, the gang was back at the travel trailer in the dinning table, with the flat tire replaced. The sky had turned a deep purple, indicating that night would come in any second. 

"Well, now how are we going to get there?" asked Parakarry to the table in general, "Wait a sec', where the hell is the Waffle Pit in first place?"

"Is in the Waffle Kingdom," answered Luigi instantly, who had a previous adventure in there.

"Oh well, pretty smart names there," said Yosh sarcastically, who received a general laugh from the others.

"In a travel trailer it would take several days to get there! Is so far!" said Bow exaggerating a little but maintaining her elegance, "I think we should take an airplane".

"Yea, Bow's right," agreed Peach, and an approving nod could be seen in the others, "But where's the closest international airport from here?"

"Let's see…" said Mario checking the map he held in his hands, "I think the closest one is in Mushroom Bridge".

"I will be sure to get you there as soon as possible," said Toadette hastily while standing from her seat and running downstairs to the wheel.

"I'm gonna make a reservation right away," said Peach while taking out her pink cell phone and walking to the kitchen out of earshot from everybody.

"You know, it makes me wonder," said Yosh suddenly, "Why the Axem Rangers wanted the Hourglass anyway? I mean, if it's really that powerful, why would our captor want us to have it?"

"I have been trying to figure that out too," said Kooper thoughtfully while staring at his Koopa Tea in front of him which had started to vibrate; the travel trailer had started moving, "What if Toadsworth isn't in the next location the clue says? Maybe the captor is just trying to play with us and make us hurt ourselves by going to dangerous places".

"But we have to try," said Mario, and reduced his voice to a low whisper so Peach, who was still talking by her cell phone while walking in circles around the kitchen, wouldn't listen, "Peach is counting on us to do it; still we don't have another clue that can tell us where Toadsworth is. Why do you think she required us instead of the police to do the job? Is clear that she trusts us more, and we need to do everything in our power to help her."

Everyone was touched by Mario's words and meditated them. Goombella was the first to talk.

"You're right Mario," she whispered with a determined look in her face, "We have to help her, plus she has always been so good with us, now is our time to help her."

Everyone nodded with approval, and their expressions were instantly faked to normal as they saw Peach approaching them and putting her cell phone away.

"Bad news," she said a bit sad, "The earlier plane I could get is until tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.".

"Well, you did your best" said Mario comprehensibly and smiling gently at her, "We can just sleep here in the trailer and go to the airport as first thing in the morning."

"Honestly, no need to sleep here," said Peach, feeling that it was her fault for not getting a reservation earlier, "We can stay in a hotel".

"But, honey," said Bow while waving her fan slowly, "In Mushroom Bridge there are just like four hotels, plus it's a popular area for tourists, I don't think we would find a reservation at these hours."

"Why don't we stay in Mushroom City?" suggested Mario while peering at the map again, "Is just half and hour away from Mushroom Bridge".

"For me sounds fine," said Luigi, and everyone nodded.

Kooper, who had been ignoring Goombella's whisperings to his ear, stood immediately from his seat.

"I'm going downstairs to inform Toadette that we are heading for Mushroom City instead" he said to the table with a voice that sounded a bit rough, and left immediately downstairs, leaving Goombella rather hurt. Nobody seemed to notice Goombella's suffering for the exception of Peach, who was looking at her friend with a sad expression.

"Em… Hello? Peach, are you there…?" said Mario while waving a hand in front of Peach's eyes to get her attention.

"Mm? What?!" said Peach a bit startled and changing her stare from Goombella to Mario, "Where you saying something Mario?"

"Yea," said Mario looking at her suspicious, "Are you okay?"

"Yea, yea…" she said with a grin, "I was just distracted".

"Oh well," said Mario with relief, "I was trying to tell you if you could call for a reservation in a hotel in Mushroom City?"

"Sure, sure…"

* * *

"The sight is beautiful from here" said Vivian while looking at the breathtaking view of the city's lights and colors from the hotel room's window. The gang was divided again in the same way as in Lucky 7 Hotel, with the same pairings and groups, now with Toadette added, she was to stay in the same room as Peach and Bow. Now they resided in Blackjack Hotel, an elegant black-and-white decorated hotel with great service. Though, the gang found somewhat disturbing the constant car noises from the noisy streets outside; they were in the city after all. Despite that, it didn't stop the gang from enjoying their stay. They decided to spend several hours playing in the hotel's casino. Of course, Kooper convinced Yosh to go for a coffee at Starbucks instead of playing at the casino, that way he could avoid the presence of Goombella. 

"Why does her presence bothers you so much now, dude?" asked Yosh with a sceptical look to Kooper while they were waiting for their coffees at a table in Starbucks. "I thought you had feelings for that girl and now results you hate her".

"Shhhh shut up, Yosh!" said Kooper getting a bit angry, "I don't hate her, is just that… I don't know, it results I feel so uncomfortable when she's around".

"But why the hell is that?!" asked Yosh clueless. Kooper returned a look that told Yosh that he was having an argument with himself if he should tell him or not "Listen dude, I know I'm just like two years old and I may not be an expert at this topic, but if you don't tell me what happened I just can't help you".

In that moment, the Boo waitress came with the two coffees in a small tray and placed them in front of Yosh and Kooper.

"If I can do anything else for you, just ask" she said and, before she walked away, she gave Yosh a flirting wink. Yosh blushed and didn't know how to react, so he just sat there with a dumbfound expression.

"Yea, I know," said Kooper distractingly while giving a sip to his coffee, "Girls are so damn complicated and difficult to understand".

* * *

"Mhmm… This casino looks nowhere near the one in Hotel Delfino" said Peach eyeing the enormous casino when two big doors opened for them. The place was very big; six two-floor normal-sized houses could fit easily in there. The ceiling was extremely high, as the one of a cathedral. The decoration, of course, was a mixture of black and white. The people playing in there all looked high-class and very educated, every single of them wearing formal clothes like if they were assisting a wedding. 

"We'll look like totally ridiculous here!" said Goombella with embarrassment watching her archaeologist outfit with disgust.

"You're right," agreed Bow, "Why don't we go back to our rooms and dress more accordingly to the occasion?"

"Agree, let's go," said Vivian and the four girls started walking away at a fast pace. When they noticed the guys (Mario, Luigi and Parakarry) and Toadette weren't following them, they turned to see what the problem was.

"What's the matter?" said Peach looking at the confused-looking people.

"Em… we don't have any formal clothes here with us" said Luigi shyly.

"Yes…" agreed Toadette, looking even more embarrassed than the guys for being the only girl without formal clothes.

"Oh…" was the only thing Peach could say.

"There's a gift shop at the entrance near the foyer," remembered Goombella, "And they sell really nice clothes".

"Oh, okay, then we are going there…" said Mario walking left and climbing the stairs that led to the foyer and Luigi, Parakarry and Toadette followed.

Half-an-hour later they met again at the entrance of the casino, everyone looking quite elegant. Peach was the one who looked more stunning beautiful, but Mario didn't like how she looked very much; her black dress and make-up made her look like when she was possessed by the Shadow Queen a year ago, of course this time she didn't have that creepy black aura around her or that scary stare in her eyes. Mario and Luigi were dressed equally in the same smoking, and they looked like twins more than any other time. Parakarry wore a similar smoking to the one of the twin brothers. Vivian wore a deep purple dress with bright sparks all around it, and for the first time in his life, Mario saw Vivian without her usual red-stripped hat, which was replaced by a small elegant purple hat that suited the dress. Goombella wore a ruby dress with expensive diamonds that she bought in Faire Square while shopping with Goomlodia.

"Well, I guess we are all now ready to enter," said Peach and everyone nodded with excitement.

* * *

"Well, so now what?" Yosh asked Kooper as the entered through the big doors leading to the foyer of the hotel. 

"Dunno," said Kooper, "You know, if you want to check out the casino, go ahead, really, I'll just get back to our room".

"Are you sure?" asked Yosh.

"Sure," repeated Kooper.

"Oh, well, if you say so," said Yosh while heading in the direction of the casino.

* * *

"Yosh! What are you doing?" said Goombella with disgust and embarrassment. 

"What?!" asked Yosh innocently as he joined her in one of the slot games. "And WHO is this?" he asked noticing a blonde Koopa sitting next to her and looking at him grumpily.

"Oh, what do you care! And… your clothes!" she said pointing his casual set of clothes, "You need to dress formally".

"Oh, nobody would notice," said Yosh, who was quite wrong; several people were staring in his direction and watching his clothes with indignation.

"Oh, come on Yosh! Please change your clothes, before we both get kicked out of here," said Goombella eyeing nervously the growing crowd that was staring at them.

"Oh, well, whatever!" said Yosh rolling his eyes and giving a last dark stare at the blonde Koopa next to her before walking away to the exit.

"And WHAT are you looking at!" barked Yosh to a pair of Goomba girls who were looking at his clothes as he passed by.

"Who was that?" asked the Koopa.

"Oh, that was Yosh, but never mind about him," Goombella said faking a smile.

"Goombella, what happened?" asked Mario and Luigi at the same time when they reached her, "We just saw Yosh leaving with a rather grumpier face than usual" finished Luigi.

"Oh, nothing, I just told him that he needed to dress formally," Goombella said, which was part true.

"Oh, well, I thought it was something worse…" said Mario rolling his eyes. When he did so, he noticed the Koopa sitting next to her. And the Koopa so did noticed Mario staring at him.

"Oh, hi," he said standing up and stretching a hand to Mario, "You must be Mario; Goombella just told me that the famous Mario was travelling with her. The name's Klen."

"Oh, hi," said Mario returning the handshake a little bit insecure.

"And you must be the famous brother, Luigi," Klen said noticing Luigi and offering a hand too.

"Oh well, yes…" said Luigi returning the handshake too and feeling rather pleased of being told 'famous'.

"So… you two just met?" asked Mario with a quizzical look.

"Oh… yes" said Goombella staring at the floor.

"I stopped Goombella from falling over when she tripped over a chair," informed Klen, "And well, then we just started talking and talking…" he smiled.

Goombella blushed and both Mario and Luigi gave her a what-about-Kooper-? look. Klen seemed completely clueless about why the tense moment. Mario thought that this was unfair to Goombella, so he decided to break the uncomfortable moment.

"Hey, by the way, have you seen Parakarry?" he asked, "The last time we saw him he was eating in the free-buffet table".

"Yea, now he's nowhere to be found" added Luigi to help in the changing of subject.

"Em… no" answered Goombella glad for the change of subject. "Have you seen him, Klen? Is a red Paratroopa with some goggles on top of his head".

"Mhmm… no, sorry" said Klen.

"Well, guess we are leaving now," said Mario, "Maybe he got lost somewhere".

"Yea," accepted Luigi, "We'll advice you when we find him" And so the pair of brothers walked away at a fast pace.

"What weird friends you have," said Klen still looking at Mario and Luigi.

"Oh, shut up," smiled Goombella and punched him softly in the stomach.

* * *

"Hey, what are you doing here so soon?" asked Kooper when he saw Yosh entering the hotel room. 

"Well, let's say I was verbally kicked out of the casino"

"Who? I mean, how?" Kooper asked putting down the book he was reading and giving Yosh his attention.

"Well, I entered the casino dressed like this," said Yosh with a mixture of embarrassment and anger, "And everyone there was formally dressed.

And thanks to Goombella's loud voice all the people noticed my 'casual presence' and I had to leave" he said burning in the insides, "And that's not it," he added, "I saw Goombella flirting with this stupid-looking prettyboy Koopa."

This wasn't expected from Kooper, whose eyes first went blank and then immediately faked a casual expression.

"Oh, well," he said turning his eyes back to the book, thought it was clear he wasn't reading it at all, "She can do whatever she wants".

"Dude, stop acting like you don't care!" Yosh shouted at him, "I know you do care for her! So stop pretending to read that stupid book and get your ass down to the casino and work things out with her before that stupid prettyboy steals her from you!".

Kooper had a shocked expression, as he never thought Yosh would speak to him like that. But he was right, he did care. And he was just there hiding in a book like a coward instead of fighting for the girl she loved.

"You know what, you are right" said Kooper with determination as he stood up from his chair and started walking to the door.

"No! Wait!" said Yosh placing himself in front of Kooper to stop him from leaving. "You don't want to go through the same humiliation as I did. So you better change your clothes, man".

* * *

"Uff… I'll never eat Mexican burritos again, I promise" said Parakarry to his reflected image in the mirror of the bathroom while touching his stomach in pain. "… Or at least I'll never eat more than a dozen again". 

He bent over the black basin to wash his face with some water. Suddenly, even with the sound of splashing water, he clearly heard some footsteps behind him. He quickly turned his head in surprise, but saw nothing.

"Hello?" he asked, "Is anybody there?"

He was alone in the bathroom; nobody else was there, or at least he thought…

A female laugh, or better said, a female cackle suddenly erupted in the bathroom, echoing and bouncing in the walls.

"Hello?!" asked Parakarry again, this time louder. He was slightly trembling in fear, but he was faking a gutsy look in his face.

The cackle was growing louder and louder, and Parakarry's head was spinning in confusion. He stumbled over his feet and fell over, hitting the edge of the sink and collapsing on the floor. He grabbed his head in pain; it was bleeding. He was trying to stand up but he couldn't; his head hurt badly. Suddenly something good happened; the cackle stopped.

"Oh, thanks god!" cheered Parakarry for a moment before groaning in pain again. He slowly reached the edge of the sink with his hand to help him stood up. He almost fell again, as the edge of the sink felt slippery; Parakarry noticed something a red substance all over it, which he then identified as his blood.

"Oh, god," he said while holding firmly the sink with his right hand. "I hope the wound isn't that bad".

He breathed deeply before giving another attempt of standing on his feet. This time he did it. And by grabbing the sink with both hands, he managed to stand on his feet completely.

He examined the wound in his head in the mirror; it was THAT bad, as more blood was coming out. He washed the wound with some water and then wrapped some toilet paper around his head.

"I'm not looking any good…" he said to himself as he watched his appearance in the mirror: his smoking was also splattered in blood, as well as his tie, and he looked quite ridiculous with the toilet paper wrapped around his head.

"But what the hell just happened?" Parakarry told himself in his mind, "What was that creepy cackle? Well, I better leave before something else happens".

He rushed his way to the exit door of the restroom, and he was scared and shocked that the door, as hard as he tried, didn't open.

"I'm doomed!" he shouted as he panicked and tried to open the door with kicks and punches. The cackle erupted again out of nowhere, and Parakarry took a hand to his head in desperation.

"What do you want from me?!" he shouted to nowhere in particular. He returned to the hall where the rows of sinks were. Streaming water was coming out of every single pipe, and the hall was starting to drown.

"What do you want from me?!" he repeated full in frustration now. He titled his head to the mirror and didn't want to believe what he saw. A hooded creature was standing right a few inches behind him, his face hidden under the hood.

"You" the creature whispered with a ghostly voice and before Parakarry could react to the attack, the hooded creature merely touched him with its right hand and the effect was immediate: Parakarry was starting to lose consciousness…

Parakarry fainted and hit the floor with a dull sound, while the creature cackled at the victim at its feet...

**Okay, I admit I wanted to continue. But I guess I will leave you with that :P. Sorry, you won't know why the hooded creature wanted Parakarry until next chapter. And sorry if the end of the chapter was kinda dramatic haha. But you know that stuff adds flavour to the story. Well, thanks for reading**** & reviews! 'til next chapter! **


	12. The Blackout

**Hola! So yea, I haven't updated this story for over a year. I had forgotten about it , to tell the truth. But you know, now that I have vacations for two months I have a lot of spare time, so expect a lot of updates for the time being ;). I own only Yosh and Klein xD, but everything else is not mine :).**

Chapter 12: The Blackout

"How do I look?" asked Kooper to Yosh, dressed in elegant clothes. They were both in their hotel room. Kooper had just come out of the bathroom, and Yosh was sitting comfortably on the sofa, with the remote controller in his hand.

"Really handsome," said Yosh, faking a girly voice.

"Haha…" laughed Kooper, "No, man, seriously."

"Fine, looking good," said Yosh boringly.

"I see you are not dressed," Kooper pointed out.

"I'm not coming," said Yosh, "I had enough humiliation for the night. I rather stay and watch TV."

"Okay, then," said Kooper opening the door of the hotel room, "I guess I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"Good luck with the gal!" exclaimed Yosh before Kooper closed the door behind him.

* * *

"Just look at them…" said Bow eyeing Goombella and Klein dancing energetically on the dance floor in the middle of the casino. She looked quite happy, moving her hips to the rhythm of "Wicked Ice" by Crazy Penguin, the newest hit. Peach was also looking at them, with an expression hard to define. On the other hand, Toadette continued eating her salad as if she hadn't eaten in days.

The three girls were all alone, sitting around a table with the chessboard-colored pattern found in all the casino's walls and furniture, located directly next to the dance floor where their Goomba friend was enjoying the night.

"You know, I thought Kooper and Goombella were dating," uttered Toadette after swallowing some food, quickly attacking a piece of chicken with her fork after.

Neither Bow nor Peach dared to answer her, as neither really knew what to answer at all. The tense moment was thankfully interrupted by Mario and Luigi, who were approaching their table, Vivian following behind them.

"Girls, have you seen Parakarry?" asked Mario in a worried tone to the whole table.

"I haven't seen him since we entered the casino," remembered Peach.

"Last time I saw him was in the buffet about an hour ago, rather enjoying himself with burritos," said Toadette immediately.

"Maybe he returned back to his room?" suggested Bow.

"Vivian here says she saw him enter the restroom with a stomachache," explained Luigi, moving away so that Vivian could step forward into view.

"We kind of entered at the same time," commented Vivian, "Well, of course, he entered the gentlemen's restroom and I entered the ladies' restroom.

That happened five minutes ago," added Vivian.

"We checked the restroom, and there was blood splattered everywhere on a sink, and no trace of Parakarry," continued Mario. Peach, Toadette and Bow all looked panicked with this last piece of information. Toadette finally let go of the fork and gave Mario her fullest attention.

"We also saw the vigilance tape that's supposed to record the door of the restroom," added Luigi, "And we saw Parakarry entering the restroom but he never came out."

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Peach before covering her mouth with her right hand. "Do you think the same captor has now captured Parakarry also?"

Bow immediately stood up from her chair (Err, or she rather hovered out of the chair).

"Then what are we doing here?" she hurried, "Let's go and find him!"

"Yes!" exclaimed Peach as she stood up also, quickly followed by Toadette. In that precise moment, something extremely awkward happened. The lights went out, and the music as well stopped. Voices of concern immediately erupted in the whole casino.

"What the…" exclaimed Luigi after jumping in effect of a reflex.

"Ouch! You stepped on my foot!" cried Toadette from the darkness.

"Sorry!" Luigi quickly apologized.

Suddenly a bright, green light sparkled from the buffet table. A Shy Guy in a blue suit was holding a lamp in the shape of a stick, standing on top of the buffet table so everyone could see him.

"Your attention, please!" he said. Immediately everyone in the casino went quiet. Luigi had never seen a Shy Guy talking so confidently in his life, as he though all of them were quiet and shy. "We had a technical problem with illumination, and what's worse, it looks like we're all trapped in here; the door somehow is tightly shut, and keys don't seem to open it."

Worried voices erupted once again in the casino as Shy Guys carrying blue lamps with the same design appeared everywhere.

"Silence, please!" shouted the blue-suited Shy Guy. Silence fell again in the casino. "There's nothing to do but wait for other hotel workers outside the casino to fix the lights.

For now, I suggest for all of you to stay calm and have a seat. Hotel staff will give one lamp to each table. I'll keep you updated as soon as I get news of what's happening. Thank you."

"Guys, I have been looking for you all over!" Mario heard Goombella said to his right-hand side.

A Shy Guy approached their table and deposited the blue lamp in the middle of their table. Without saying a thing or looking at any of them, he immediately left hurriedly.

Peach was glad that now she could see all of her friend's faces. She sat down back at the table, following the Shy Guy's instructions. The others quickly mimicked her.

"Where's your _friend, _Goombella?" asked Mario in a grumpy tone.

"I managed to escape from him when the blackout occurred," confessed Goombella.

"Why would you escape from him? I thought you liked him," asked Bow looking amazed.

"Well, he dances really well and all but he's so full of himself for my taste, I'd say," admitted Goombella. Mario was looking rather pleased.

"Now, weren't we looking for someone…?" said Bow, reminding them of poor Parakarry.

"You were?" asked Goombella confused as ever.

The gang told Goombella what happened before the blackout in less than two minutes. After Mario finished telling the whole story, Goombella was processing the information in her head before asking questions.

"So, Luigi, you said that in the vigilance tape Parakarry enters the gentlemen's restroom but never leaves it?" asked Goombella thinking hard. Luigi nodded.

"Bow, have you checked if the magical barrier is activated?" Goombella questioned Bow looking at her from across the table. She looked quite scary under the blue light coming from the lamp.

"Mmm… let me try," said Bow, closing her eyes for a second, but nothing happened.

"What is a magical barrier?" asked Luigi looking confused.

"Enchantments done in most public buildings done to prevent a person or creature from leaving a room or the building itself by the means of magic" recited Goombella at top speed, "All other kinds of magic are permitted, though."

"You mean like Vivian's Veil or Bow's Disappearing?" asked Peach.

"Correct" nodded Goombella.

"It's activated," confirmed Bow after trying to Disappear for the third time.

"So, we can confirm that Parakarry didn't leave the restroom thanks to the vigilance tape," reminded Goombella the facts, "And if Parakarry was really kidnapped by someone in the bathroom he or she or IT couldn't be able to exit the restroom by the means of magic. Everything so clear now."

To the rest of the gang those facts looked everything but clear to them. After realizing that her partners still looked confused under the lamp's light, Goombella decided to explain.

"My guesses are that there's another exit door in the restroom. If Parakarry was kidnapped then his captor must have used this door to leave. If he was not kidnapped, the facts remain the same. Maybe Parakarry for some reason wasn't able to open the main door and left through this door."

"But we checked the restroom, Goombella," reminded Mario, "And there was no sign of another door."

"Well, maybe it's hidden, you know," said Goombella, "I'm sure this won't be titled 'Secret Entrance' like the secret entrance in The Great Boggly Tree.

Now we should consider other facts," Goombella continued, "We must consider the possibility that our captor, or even Parakarry himself, left the restroom while the blackout occurred, we don't know. If this actually happened then Parakarry is still here, as the casino doors are closed and he couldn't have left through them".

"So true!" exclaimed Toadette.

"Your brainpower really stuns me, Goombella" Mario said, making Goombella blush.

"I think we should team up," suggested Peach, "I suggest half of us look for Parakarry around the casino, and the other half to look for this hypothetical door in the restroom."

"That sounds like a good idea," admitted Mario. "I want to look for that secret entrance".

"Yea, me too!" said Luigi excitedly.

"My magic can be of great aid in this" said Bow.

"Then Vivian, Toadette and me will remain here and look for Parakarry," said Peach. She turned to look at Goombella "You are good at this, Goombella, so you will be more helpful aiding the guys in the search of that door."

"Agreed!" uttered Goombella. "If you don't mind, we'll take the lamp with us, you girls can see with the help of the other lamps."

"Yea, no prob," nodded Peach.

"So, let's do this!" said Luigi with enthusiasm.

All at once all of the present party members stood up from the table. Peach, Toadette and Vivian went in different directions while Luigi, Mario, Bow and Goombella all went in the direction of the restroom.

"I suggest you turn off that lamp for now, Goombella," suggested Mario, "Too much attention."

"OK, agree," said Goombella while quickly turning off the lamp, guiding themselves to the restroom wit the help of random lamps here and there.

A 'KEEP OUT' sign was outside the gentlemen's restroom when they arrived. Water was coming out from behind the door and the floor looked slippery.

"EW, I forgot the fact that I'm about to enter a guys' restroom," reasoned Bow.

"Ohmigosh! So true!" exclaimed Goombella.

"Shh! Keep your voice down," murmured Mario while kicking the sign softly out of his way, "You don't want to attract any Shy Guy guards in here".

Bow and Goombella remained silent as the four of them entered the restroom. Blood was still over the sink, as the staff had told Mario and Luigi to leave it there as possible crime evidence. Goombella looked at the blood with disgust. Bow quickly approached the sink and, to everyone's surprise, she stuck out her tongue and touched the blood with the very tip of it.

"What was that for!?" shrieked Goombella stepping back.

"Just checking the freshness of the blood," she indicated, "And I must say its pretty fresh and yummy, err, just fresh sorry, and my calculations is that this blood has been here for no less than half an hour."

"So it's indeed Parakarry's…" reasoned Mario.

"Let's hurry and look for that door," suggested Luigi. The others nodded and started inspecting different areas of the restroom.

* * *

Kooper was walking alone along a dark hallway somewhere in the third floor of the hotel, careful not to trip with anything in the surrounding darkness.

"Just two stories down and I'll be able to reach the casino…" he murmured to himself.

Kooper's walking came to halt, as he heard some footsteps in the distance. They were growing louder and louder. Kooper looked around randomly, as he wasn't quite sure from where the source of sound came. He felt someone or something moving behind him, and he managed to see a shadow darting past him at a quick pace. Suddenly a blue light coming from the opposite end of the hallway caught Kooper's eyes. Kooper's heart skipped a beat in fear, but he was ready to face whatever was coming. The blue, bright orb was coming closer and closer to him.

"Sir?" asked a voice shyly. When he was close enough to him, Kooper was able to see the Shy Guy holding a blue lamp which was the source of light he saw earlier.

"Oh, thanks god it's you," said Kooper with relief.

"We had a blackout, as you can see," explained the Shy Guy, "I have orders to return everyone back to their rooms. I'm sorry sir but it's not time to wander around the hotel."

"I wanted to go to the casino, actually" uttered Kooper.

"I'm sorry, sir, but it seems that the people inside are trapped," said the Shy Guy shyly (ironically), "The doors don't seem to open, but we promise we'll get to the bottom of this."

"No! What..!?" exclaimed Kooper, "Goombella!"

"Please, sir, let me guide you back to your room," insisted the Shy Guy.

"OK, then…" admitted Kooper, knowing in his mind that he will return after the Shy Guy would leave him in his hotel room.

The pair went two stories up, where Kooper's room was located. The trip seemed way faster than Kooper's descend, maybe due to the fact that being able to see clearly thanks to the lamp made him walk faster.

In no time Kooper and the Shy Guy where in the hallway where Kooper's and Yosh's room was. To Kooper's surprise, he saw from the distance that his hotel room's door was flung open, and a mysterious figure came out holding something sparkly in their hands. Kooper quickly ran in direction of the unknown character, with the Shy Guy trailing behind him. When Kooper was close enough, he was relieved to see that the mysterious character was indeed Parakarry.

"Oh, it's you, for a moment I thought…" but Kooper wasn't able to finish the sentence when Parakarry performed a Shell Shot attack on him, making him land on his back, helplessly. Parakarry then flied away at top speed.

"Sir, are you okay?" asked the Shy Guy as he helped Kooper stand back on his feet.

"Yea…" answered Kooper holding his head. That was the strangest thing ever, why would Parakarry ever attack him? And what was he carrying anyway?

"Well um, now that you are safely back into your room," said the Shy Guy handing him a lamp, "I need to get back downstairs." And with that the Shy Guy left, his lamp's light fading as he turned in the corner.

"Yosh, are you still here?" asked Kooper as he closed the door behind him. He held the lamp high to be able to see the whole room. The sofa where Yosh last sat was empty. "You won't believe what just happened!"

But there was no response. "Maybe he left the room after the blackout, as he wasn't able to see TV" suggested Kooper to himself. He continued to walk through the room looking for him, when he stumbled over something on the floor. He directed the lamp's light to whatever was on the floor.

"What the…" Kooper freaked out when he saw Yosh lying on the floor, unconscious.

* * *

"See? I told you that there was something behind the mirror!" said Goombella triumphantly. There was indeed, a secret passage in the restroom, located behind a mirror on the wall. The brothers had carried the heavy mirror away from its place, revealing a hole on the wall.

"HOW the hell you knew it was there?!" said Luigi stunned.

"Well, thanks god it's there," said Mario relieved, "If not we would just have broken an expensive mirror for nothing." He added looking at a damaged edge of the mirror.

"I don't know, I guess it was pure luck" said Goombella modestly. "Or I actually started thinking were would I put the secret passage myself."

"Let's roll, then!" said Bow excitedly.

The four of them hurried to enter the unknown chamber. The room was huge, and it had lit torches on every wall and some on the floor. Goombella quickly identified the room as a storage room, based on the surrounding objects.

"So this hole actually connected the restroom with the storage room all this time," said Goombella walking confidently forward. The others followed.

"Look, the staircase!" said Luigi excitedly, pointing the stairs leading to an upper floor. The four of hurried their way through the staircase and opened the door at the end of it. As Mario stepped outside he quickly identified the area as a hallway of the second floor.

"Let's better return to the casino and tell the others!" suggested Mario, relieved of finally finding an exit.

* * *

"That bastard knocked me out!" Yosh was saying with anguish. He was sitting on the sofa, pressing a bag of ice on his head. Kooper was sitting next to him on the edge of his bed. "I heard someone knocking the door and when I went to open it, he just punched me in the face. It's the last thing I remember."

"Strange…" said Kooper, more to himself than to Parakarry, "Did he take anything from here? I saw him carrying something under his arm" he asked, returning his attention back to Yosh.

"I don't know, let's check"

Kooper grabbed the blue lamp from the night table and started inspecting the room, with Yosh following behind. Yosh suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Wait… sparkling thing, you said…" he murmured. He rushed to his bed, where a bag of his possessions was. He was looking desperately for something among the things in his bag, but was unsuccessful in finding it. His face emerged from his bag to look at Kooper with a worrying look.

"I know what he took," he said, gulping, "The Golden Hourglass is gone."

* * *

The seven party members were back at the same table they where a while ago, sharing the information they had collected. Shy Guys had started serving soda to all the people in the casino.

"Are you sure he's not in here?" asked Bow to Peach, Toadette and Vivian.

"So sure," said Toadette, drinking some soda, "No sign of him at all."

"Shouldn't we tell the other people that there's a way out of this place?" said Peach heartedly.

"No," said Mario instantly, "We don't know what we're dealing with. The people are safer in here."

"Agree," said Goombella instantly.

"OK, so let's get audi as quiet as possible…" said Peach standing up like the rest of them. Turning off the lamp like they did before, the seven party members went quietly to the restroom, attempting to draw the less attention possible from neighboring tables.

"Eeek! Girls in the restroom!" cried an old Goomba out loud when he saw the gang entering the restroom.

"Shh!!" said Goombella instantly, "Please keep your voice low!"

"Get out of here!" cried the old Goomba, "Young people these days, no respect at all!"

"We really have no time for this shit," said Bow making her way to the front of the group and performing a Fright attack on the poor old Goomba. The fact that they were in semidarkness didn't help to make Bow less frightening at all, and the old Goomba fainted on the floor.

"Bow!" cried Goombella indignantly while kneeling next to the old Goomba lying on the floor. "You might just have caused him a heart attack!"

"He'll be fine, I promise" said Bow calmly.

"Okay…" said Mario, still freaked out by Bow's savage decisions, "If Bow says so, then let's continue."

Goombella leaned the old Goomba against the nearest wall, looking devastated. The rest passed through the hole in the wall next to the moved mirror.

"Parakarry! For goddess sake, we were so worried!" exclaimed Peach as she saw Parakarry floating in the middle of the storage room, barely illuminated by the blue lamp Luigi was holding. However, when Luigi approached Parakarry along with the rest of the gang Parakarry's face was fully illuminated. It was not the Parakarry they knew. His pupils were bright red and he was looking at them angrily, holding the Golden Hourglass under his shoulder. Without further advice, he performed a Whirlwind attack and hurried to exit through the door located at the end of the staircase.

"Ahh!!" shrieked Peach as she was sent flying back to a wall because of the powerful gust.

"What the…!?" exclaimed Goombella lifting herself from the floor, "Why would Parakarry attack US!?"

"Hurry, he's escaping!" urged Mario running to the same door Parakarry used. The others quickly followed behind him.

Once they were in the hallway, everyone was able to see Parakarry floating away from them, trying to reach the staircase at the end of the hallway. Bow quickly stepped forward and Summoned the Golden Hourglass. Within a second, the Golden Hourglass materialized in Bow's hands.

"Why would he want to steal that thing?!" asked Peach incredulously.

"Didn't you see his eyes?" said Goombella, looking at the gang, "I think he was being Controlled."

"Controlled how?" asked Luigi, clueless.

"In magic is a term used to indicate a state of being under any spell used to control someone or something" recited Goombella smartly.

"Oh, how awful!" exclaimed Toadette.

"Do you really think he was being Controlled?" questioned Mario.

"I have never seen someone Controlled before," admitted Goombella blushing, "But it just fits the description of the book. Red eyes, unable to speak, strange behavior…"

"I'll go and advice the hotel managers to close all the exit doors, he must not leave the hotel!" panicked Vivian while hurrying along the corridor and disappearing from view when she turned in a corner.

"The rest of us should be protecting Bow" suggested Mario.

"Who whoever was Controlling Parakarry, they were searching for this" he continued, "He might return for it."

* * *

"Look there he is!" exclaimed Yosh when he saw Parakarry floating in a corridor on the third floor, illuminating him with the lamp.

"Quick, let's get him!" said Kooper while running beside Yosh in Parakarry's direction.

The Controlled Parakarry quickly turned and started floating away from them at a fast pace. Kooper and Yosh accelerated their running.

"You are not getting away this time!" said Yosh before whistling in a peculiar manner.

The Yoshi Herd appeared out of nowhere, ran past them easily and managed to hit Parakarry before he would attempt to go upstairs. The devastating force of the running Yoshi made Parakarry hit the wall at the end of the hallway, falling on his shell when he hit the floor.

"Damn, I told you to knock him out, not kill him!" exclaimed Kooper running in Parakarry's direction. Yosh didn't respond at all. As they approached him, Kooper was glad to see that he was not dead, as he was swinging his arms a bit.

"Where… Where am I?" Parakarry muttered, seeing Kooper and Yosh standing before him.

"YOU MAN ARE… what? You don't remember?" asked Yosh scratching his head. Kooper hurried to help him stand before Yosh could stop him.

"The last thing I remember was being hit by the sink in the restroom," said Parakarry truthfully, holding his wound in pain.

"Wow, you must have hit yourself hard to behave like that," uttered Yosh.

"What did I do?" asked Parakarry.

"For one thing you knocked me out, hit Kooper, and stole the Golden Hourglass," recited Yosh.

"That's three things," Kooper pointed out.

"Irrelevant," Yosh murmured under his breath.

"Anyway, where did you keep the Golden Hourglass? I see that you don't have it anymore," noticed Kooper.

"Haven't I just told you that I don't remember a thing?" said Parakarry looking so confused.

"Hey, guys!" shouted Goombella as the missing party members were rushing toward them through the darkness. "Stay away from him, he's dangerous!"

"He's fine" assured Kooper once all of them arrived, "He's back to being himself."

"Oh, I see…" said Goombella, noticing how Parakarry's eyes were not red anymore.

"I'm really glad you are okay, Goombella," Kooper couldn't help saying it to her, "You had me worried."

Goombella didn't say anything, but Kooper was able to see under the blue light that she was smiling, and blushing as well.

"Oh, so you had the Golden Hourglass all the time?" asked Yosh incredulous, seeing that Bow was carrying the Golden Hourglass under her arm.

"Not all the time," admitted Bow, "I managed to Summon it from Parakarry's arms".

"I wanted to steal that thing?" asked Parakarry confused.

In that precise moment, the lights returned to the hotel. Voices of relief could be heard all over, from all stories.

"Thanks god!" exclaimed Peach happily.

"Wow, this sure was a freaky night!" said Yosh with enthusiasm.

"What's wrong, Vivian?" asked Luigi looking at her kind of saddened face, "You don't look happy."

"Nothing, is just…" said Vivian hesitating, "I liked the gloom environment better."

Everyone burst to laugh.

**So yea... end of this chapter. If someone really cares about continuing reading this story, well thanks a lot. Fell free to review and tell your comments, positive or negative, about the story. ¡Hasta la próxima! ;)**


	13. Bonjour, Waffle Kingdom!

**Here's the next chapter. Thanks for the reviews! ;)**

Chapter 13: Bonjour, Waffle Kingdom!

"Get away!" protested Yosh holding his bedsheets firmly in his hands and covering his body with them while Kooper was trying to take them away from him.

"It's already 4:00 a.m.!" exclaimed Kooper still trying to take the bedsheets away, "Peach instructed everyone to meet her in the foyer at 4:15!"

"The plane doesn't leave until 7 a.m.!" protested Yosh. Kooper had finally managed to take the bedsheets away from him and threw them to the floor. Then he walked past Parakarry's empty bed and examined himself in the sink's mirror.

"Yea, but remember it's a 2 hour trip to Mushroom Bridge, and we need some time to have breakfast also!" reminded Kooper while looking at Yosh from the mirror's reflection.

"Yea, whatever," agreed Yosh, finally standing from his bed and packing his stuff while Kooper was washing his face with some water.

After a few minutes, Kooper and Yosh met some of the gang's members already waiting for the rest in the foyer. Kooper had never seen Princess Peach this bad. She looked extremely tired, with no makeup and messy hair. But she wasn't the only one; all of them were looking weary. It was kind of logical since all of them had less than three hours of sleep. Some, like Princess Peach, didn't sleep at all. She had been thinking about all the disasters that this unknown captor had caused so far, and how many surprises they'll be expecting from them in the future. A party member had already been injured by them, and that had Peach worried all night. When Goombella entered the foyer, who was the last one to arrive, Peach walked in front of everyone, making all of them fell silent.

"Now, for breakfast we have three options," she informed before yawning lightly, "We can eat here at the hotel, eat in a restaurant somewhere nearby, or wait for our arrival to Mushroom Bridge and eat there. Which is going to be?"

"Eating here would be the quickest way," Vivian pointed out.

"Actually, I cannot wait to get away from this place," hurried Bow who received a general laugh.

"Totally agree," supported Goombella taking sides with Bow, "This place gives me creeps!"

"Hey, I have a better idea," started Toadette, "Why don't we just have breakfast in the trailer? There's plenty of food in there."

"Nice!" exclaimed Peach, "Excellent idea, Toadette."

"I'll happily cook for everyone!" said Luigi immediately doing some kind of jump.

"So, we all agree in eating in the trailer?" asked Peach to the group. Everyone nodded.

"It's settled then!" she exclaimed with excitement, "Now, let's go…"

"Stop right there!" called someone from behind as the gang attempted to enter the elevator. As they turned they saw the same Shy Guy with the blue suit that had instructed everyone when the blackout occurred.

"I'm truly sorry, but no more than eight adults are allowed to enter the elevator at the same time!" he informed in an authority tone.

"But I weight less than the air found inside the elevator!" Bow pointed out.

"And I'm underage anyway!" protested Yosh.

"I'm sure I weight almost the same as Yosh," added Vivian.

"That'll make only seven adult weights," noticed Mario.

The Shy Guy looked at them for a few seconds with a stare, before finally letting them enter the elevator, not fully convinced. He was still looking a bit gloomy before the elevator doors closed before the gang and it started descending. All of them hurried out of the elevator when the doors opened and they were able to see the parking lot before them. Their trailer was by far the biggest vehicle in there.

"You!" an old voice cried from behind as the gang, one by one, was entering the trailer. Peach, Mario, Luigi and Bow, who were still outside, turned their head in the direction of the voice.

"YOU are the Boo that almost killed me yesterday!" cried the same old Goomba Bow Frightened the night before, looking at her angrily, "I'll inform the authorities right away!" he shouted, while running back to the elevator, at a rather slow pace. Peach, Mario, Luigi and Bow immediately ran inside the trailer.

"Toadette! Hurry, we need to get out of here as soon as possible!" pleaded Peach in panic.

"Why?" asked a confused Toadette, taking her own time to start the engine.

"Just drive!" hurried Peach, "Before we have policemen following behind us!"

Toadette didn't need to be told twice, as she stepped on the pedal hard with her foot and the trailer immediately set off at top speed. The last thing Mario was able to see through the window was the old Goomba coming out of the elevator followed by two security guards, before their trailer turned left out of the parking lot and out of sight. He couldn't help but smile.

* * *

After eating a breakfast consisting mainly of coffee, Koopa Tea, and sandwiches, all of them prepared by Luigi, they went to sleep in their respective beds on the third floor, for the exception of Toadette, of course, who had to drive all the way to Mushroom Bridge. The two-hour trip to the airport went extremely fast for the people who slept, but for Toadette the trip was eternal.

"I can't believe we're already here!" exclaimed Peach in amazement as she stepped out of the trailer, feeling the soft morning breeze pressing against her cheeks.

"Um, just for curiosity," said Parakarry approaching Peach, "What will happen to the trailer?"

"Oh! So true!" said Peach startled, "I forgot to tell you, guys. Please take all of your personal belongings out of the trailer; a servant will come to pick it up in about three hours."

So everyone went back inside the trailer and took all of the stuff they brought with them, Yosh being extremely careful to pack the Golden Hourglass. After they double-checked all the rooms of the trailer and were sure that nothing important was being left behind, they hurried to enter the airport.

"Man, I'll sure miss that trailer," Yosh told Kooper as Peach was talking with the petite Toad girl behind the glass at the counter. "It was so freaking cool!"

"Yea, I know," admitted Kooper before lowering his voice to a low whisper, "but sheeesh I'm sure Peach must be used to this kind of stuff."

"We can now board on the plane!" informed Peach happily to the gang.

"Let's roll, then!" said Mario enthusiastically.

"You know, this is cool and everything," Goombella told Bow as everyone was walking toward the plane, looking at the big red letters saying "Mushroom Airlines" on its side, "but I hope that we find Toadsworth soon," she then turned to see Princess Peach with sorrow.

* * *

The airplane was big enough to hold around fifty people inside, but the passengers weren't more than thirty, or at least Goombella calculated. She saw that, apart from the gang, there was a Goomba family possibly traveling for a vacation trip. The Three Traveling Sisters, three sympathetic Toad girls, were also there, who Goombella didn't hesitate in greeting. A group of young Koopas occupied several of the plane's front seats, who, judging the few words Goombella managed to hear from them as they were passing by, were French speakers.

The airplane set off at exactly 7 a.m., and Bow remembered why she hated airplanes as soon as they left the ground. Because she defied the laws of gravity, she was sent flying backwards from her seat as the airplane darted forward. With the help of some staff members and the preoccupied gang members, they managed to bring Bow back to her seat, and after securing that the seatbelt was tight enough to hold her in place, everyone returned back to their seats.

"That was soo embarrassing!" she couldn't help saying to Vivian, who was sitting next to her. Vivian merely smirked.

Some seats away from them, Mario and Goombella were deep in conversation.

"Mario, I'm like totally sure that the kidnapper is not after the Mushroom coins at all," she stated.

"How can you be so sure?" asked Mario quizzically.

"I mean, I don't think it's a coincidence that a day after we collect the Golden Hourglass- found thanks to the kidnapper's clues- someone tries to steal it," she said as she noticed one of the French Koopa guys looking at her from all the way from the front seats, "I think we're just being used as puppets," she continued, trying to ignore the Koopa's penetrating stare, "This guy just want us to keep looking for weird items in every corner of the world."

"But why he would want these items in first place?" asked Mario.

"That's what we don't know," admitted Goombella, "But that's the same reason why we should keep looking for these items."

"I think I got lost again…" Mario apologized.

"These objects we're haunting seem to have extraordinary powers, even though we don't know how to use them yet" explained Goombella, "Just remember how the Axem Rangers wanted the hourglass so badly.

It's better for us to have them rather than our kidnapper, who god knows for what they want them. We just need to be careful to avoid being stolen again from them."

"_Excuse-moi, mademoiselle_," said the same French Koopa who had been staring at her a while ago. The Koopa seemed to have walked all the way from the airplane's front seats to the back where Goombella was, "_Parle-tu français__?"_

"_Mm… __Oui, je parle un peu de français_," responded Goombella, startled, her face turning a bright red color. The Koopa boy sighed in relief.

"_Sais-tu où se trouvent les toilettes__?"_ he asked pleadingly.

"_Mm… oui_," Goombella responded, standing from her seat and turning toward the end of the hallway, "_Marche toute droit jusqu'au mur, tourne à gauche, et entre la premier porte._"

"_Oh, très bien_…" he said, trying to remember the path Goombella just told him, "_Merci beaucoup!"_

"_De rien_," Goombella replied, and with that, the Koopa boy left and continued walking in the direction Goombella instructed him, not without winking at her before leaving.

"What the hell was that?!" asked Mario perplexed after the Koopa boy was out of earshot.

"He just wanted to know where the restroom is," Goombella uttered in a defensive tone.

"And from all the passengers in the plane, he had to ask you?" said Mario more to himself than to Goombella, but looking at her with suspicion. "And where did you learn French anyway?"

"In the University," she replied, giving no importance to the subject.

"Honestly," said Mario rolling his eyes, "No matter from which part of the world they come from, you seem to be able to steal all of the male Koopas' hearts."

"Oh, SHUT UP, Mario!" chuckled Goombella as she kicked Mario's left leg softly.

* * *

"Strange..." muttered Vivian to Luigi as she sat to the seat next to him after she returned from the restroom.

"What's strange?" asked Luigi, looking at her.

"I just saw a hooded figure entering the luggage room…" muttered Vivian in a low tone so that only he could hear her.

"Do you think it was our captor?" inquired Luigi, looking scared.

"I don't know, he might be…" replied Vivian, thinking, "Wait, isn't the Golden Hourglass in Yosh's bag?"

"No, it's in Mario's bag now," answered Luigi, totally missing the point of the comment for a second before realizing why Vivian said that, "Oh! Do you think they are going to try to steal it again?!"

"I would say that's quite possible," whispered Vivian back with shaky voice, "But that would mean that… the captor is inside the airplane right now with us."

"Ah!" exclaimed Luigi, looking around the plane, as if the hooded figure would suddenly appear out of thin air, "What we're going to do?"

"Listen, you stay here and watch everyone carefully; count them if necessary, and remember faces" commanded Vivian, "I'll go and check the luggage room to see if the hooded character's still there."

"Okay, then…" agreed Luigi, looking at the back of the hallway, "But a staff member is wandering outside the door right now," added Luigi, noticing a brunette Toad standing near the luggage room's door.

"Then I guess I'll be using my Veil move," decided Vivian, "I'll be right back…"

Vivian's body suddenly seemed to melt before Luigi's eyes, replaced by a small shadow shaped like a circle on the floor. Luigi watched the shadow as it sled across the floor and squeezed underneath the luggage room's door. After the shadow was out of sight, he decided to follow Vivian's orders and started looking around. He saw that the Goomba family consisted of three children, the mother, the father, and an elderly Goomba, possibly the children's grandmother. "That'll make them six…" counted Luigi in his mind. He then turned his attention to the front seats of the airplane, were the French guys were. "They are seven…" counted Luigi, "… and the Three Traveling Sisters are, well, three, duh". Luigi was adding the numbers in his mind. "They are sixteen… plus ten, because we're ten party members…" Suddenly, Vivian materialized back to his left side.

"They are twenty-six!" finally exclaimed Luigi triumphantly.

"Nice, now we need to count them again when the airplane lands to see if the number changes," stated Vivian.

"You saw anything suspicious in the luggage room?" asked Luigi.

"Not at all," said Vivian, disappointed, "There was no sign of the hooded character, and I also checked Mario's bag, and the Golden Hourglass was still there."

"Oh, thanks god," sighed Luigi in relief.

"We should still tell the others about this," suggested Vivian, putting her seatbelt back on.

"You're right," nodded Luigi, taking out his PDA from one of his overalls' pockets, "I'll send Mario a message, explaining him with detail what just happened."

"Excellent idea," uttered Vivian, "Because going to their seats would look so suspicious."

* * *

It took Luigi and Vivian less than an hour to spread the word in an unsuspicious manner of what Vivian saw to the rest of the gang. The party members themselves were discussing the matter in their respective seats, for the exception of Kooper and Goombella who, to Mario's surprise and Peach's delight, were kissing passionately in some seats at back of the airplane.

"But if that really was our captor, why didn't he take the Golden Hourglass?" Parakarry was asking Yosh, who was sitting next to him.

"Well, maybe they thought it would be plain stupid to do that now," reasoned Yosh, "They wouldn't be able to leave the plane anyway."

"If they got wings, like I do, then they would be able to leave," Parakarry pointed out.

"But I guess they don't, because Vivian said the Golden Hourglass was still there," reminded Yosh.

"Anyway, we all need to be alert when the plane lands," added Yosh, "In case they'll attempt to steal again."

Parakarry's cheeks blushed at that statement, and it took Yosh a few moments to realize why.

"Oh, c'mon Parakarry, we all know that it wasn't your fault," comforted Yosh.

"I know but…" uttered Parakarry, hesitating, "I still feel guilty."

"You were Controlled," said Yosh, "There wasn't anything you could do about it."

"We'll be arriving to Muffin City, Waffle Kingdom in twenty minutes," informed the same lady that was guarding the luggage room's door a while back.

* * *

The airplane made a soft landing at the Waffle Airport, and Bow couldn't be any happier that the trip was finally over. The Goomba family was the first to leave the plane, with the French Koopa guys following behind. Then the Three Traveling Sisters left too, singing "Chuckola Cola" at the top of their lungs as they did. When the gang was the only ones left, Goombella felt confident enough to walk toward the lady in charge.

"Miss, I was wondering," she said to the lady, who immediately turned around to see her, "Can we get our luggage right now?"

"Ah!" she exclaimed dramatically, "Why would you want to do that?"

"Is just that…" uttered Goombella, thinking that it was best not to lie, "We think that someone will try to steal a valuable possession of ours, which is in the luggage, and we would like to get our stuff as soon as possible."

"Oh!" she squealed in a melodramatic fashion (Yosh couldn't help but chuckle behind Kooper's back), "Are you completely sure of this?"

"Yes, ma'am," responded Goombella truthfully.

"Um… okay then!" she finally said, doing a small jump, "But let's keep this between us!" she whispered with the same dramatic tone.

"Nobody will ever now," assured Peach with a smirk as the gang hurried to the back of the plane to get their stuff.

* * *

"NO FREAKING WAY, that's MARIO!" cried a Toad girl as she saw Mario walking down the busy streets of Muffin City along with the rest of the gang.

"AND THAT'S LUIGI!" shouted another girl next to the first one. Out of nowhere, a dozen girls came hurrying up the street to catch up with their idols.

"Would you give an autograph?!" asked a Toad girl pleadingly to Luigi, handing him a pen and a piece of paper, "I'm such a big fan of yours!"

"Um… sure, I guess," responded Luigi feeling overwhelmed, peering over his shoulder to see that Mario was also being stalked by girls a yard away from him.

"There you go," said Mario, handing the Toad girl an autographed napkin.

"THANK YOU!" she said hugging him hard, squeezing the air out of his lungs.

Girls continued to stalk Mario and Luigi in the streets until they were finally safe in their room at Donut Hotel. Unlike the rooms of the hotels they had previously been in, these rooms had enough space for five people, so Peach, Toadette, Bow, Vivian, and Goombella stayed in one, while Mario, Luigi, Parakarry, Yosh, and Kooper stayed in another.

"Man, I didn't know you were this famous here!" exclaimed Yosh surprised, placing the Golden Hourglass hidden under some clothes in one of the drawers beside his bed.

"Neither do I," said Luigi truthfully, unpacking his stuff on his bed.

"We should hurry up," suggested Mario, "Peach wants to check out the Waffle Pit before it gets dark, and it's in the outskirts of the city."

"What time is it?" asked Kooper, resting on a sofa, drinking a glass of water.

"1:00 P.M." said Parakarry, looking at the digital clock in the night table beside his bed.

* * *

"I'm starting to get hungry," said Toadette to the girls in their hotel room, who were all standing before the mirror, putting on some makeup here and there.

"You seem to be always hungry, Toadette," joked Goombella. The others laughed.

"But she's right, you know," supported Peach, "It was a five-hour trip; it's logical to be hungry."

"Why don't we have lunch before going to the Waffle Pit?" suggested Vivian, straightening her hat.

"That's sounds like a nice idea," said Toadette hopefully.

"Yea, I agree," said Peach, "Plus I heard there's nothing but soil, trees and sand around the Waffle Pit for miles."

* * *

"By the way, I forgot to tell you guys," said Parakarry, holding a pamphlet in his right hand and waving it before the others. "They gave me this in the street…"

Mario, who was the closest to where Parakarry was, took the pamphlet and read it out loud for the others to hear:

_WAFFLE PIT'S ANNUAL TOURNAMENT_

_Like fighting? Love to kick other's assess? Then register to enter the Waffle Pit's annual brawl tournament! Registration is completely free! Make your way to the finals and win the famous Waffle Trophy made of mithril and gold! Male and female categories!_

_Not a fighter but like to watch? Follow your favorite fighters as they climb to the top! Ticket prices are as follows:_

_First to Fourth Round: 20 Waffle Coins_

_Quarter Finals and Semifinals: 50 Waffle Coins_

_Final: 150 Waffle Coins_

_(NO refunds!)_

_For information on how to register or where to buy tickets, go to the building beside the Waffle Pit._

_Registrations close tonight! So hurry up if you want to register!_

"Cooooool!" exclaimed Yosh with excitement, "I'm in!"

"Do you think we need to win in order to get our captor's next clue?" asked Parakarry.

"I don't even remember what the clue said…" muttered Luigi, reading the pamphlet again in his hands.

"I think Goombella has it!" remembered Kooper.

"OK, then go and get it from your girlfriend," hurried Yosh.

Kooper was about to curse Yosh, but he merely smiled as he made his way to the door.

"I think you should wait," managed to say Mario when Kooper was about to close the door behind him. Kooper returned back inside, looking at Mario, "We'll all meet in the foyer in five minutes anyway."

"Yea, you're right, Mario," agreed Yosh, closing the door again. "I guess this can wait."

* * *

The guys went downstairs after five minutes, but the girls didn't show up until six minutes after that. Mario was about to ask them why they took so long, but then he guessed the answer by himself. All the girls looked way different from how Mario remembered them when they first entered the hotel: they were now well-combed, with makeup on, and perfumed. He personally liked the smell of Peach's flowery fragrance… or was it really the fragrance what Mario liked?

"Goombella, do you have the rock where the captor's clue is written?" asked Kooper to Goombella as he approached her.

"It's in my bag back at the hotel room," responded Goombella, frowning, "Why?"

"Have a look at this," interrupted Yosh, approaching the pair and handing Goombella the pamphlet.

"What's that?" asked Peach looking curious as she started reading the pamphlet too over Goombella's shoulder, "So there's actually going to be a tournament soon?" said Peach after reading the pamphlet, looking surprised.

"Funny coincidence, huh?" said Goombella, handing the pamphlet back to Yosh, "That there's a tournament taking place in the Waffle Pit the same week we arrive."

"Do you think we need to win that thing to get our next clue?" asked Vivian to the gang.

"That was what we were discussing in the hotel room," commented Mario.

"Which is why we need to reread the clue," said Yosh impatiently, looking at Goombella.

"Okay, okay!" said Goombella glaring at him, "I'll go and fetch it."

"I'll go with you," offered Kooper as both of them started ascending the stairs back to the second floor.

"No smooching!" shouted Yosh at them before both disappeared out of view.

"Yosh!" cried Peach indignantly, looking at him in disapproval.

"What?" responded Yosh innocently, "If they do then they would take too long to come back!"

The gang couldn't help but laugh to Yosh's comment, even Peach wasn't able to resist chuckling.

* * *

"_A batter cake I am,__but of fighters I live.__The prize is what you claim__on this sweaty pit."_ Goombella read out loud for the fifth time. The gang was in an elegant restaurant five streets away from the hotel, all of them eating at a rather fast pace. They made a small detour to the bank before that though, as they had to change some Mushroom Coins to the Waffle Kingdom's currency.

"The prize is what you claim…" repeated Mario, "Well, that's the Waffle Trophy; it's obvious."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Parakarry, "But then we need to actually win the tournament to have this Waffle Trophy?"

"In theory, well, yes…" replied Goombella.

"In theory?" asked Luigi perplexed.

"Well, we could also steal it…" said Goombella, whose comment made everyone turn in her direction, looking surprised, "Okay, I was just kidding," she hurried to say.

"Well, look at the positive side," said Vivian.

"I don't see any," said Yosh frowning.

"We're ten in total," reminded Vivian, "Five for the male category, and five for the female category. Our chances of winning aren't that narrow. Plus, remember there's a Waffle Trophy for each category."

"Well, you're right," admitted Mario, "But we don't know how many contestants are in total…"

"I personally don't think there's an unlimited amount of registrations," commented Kooper, "Once they have the desired amount of contestants, I'm sure they'll close registrations for good."

"Then we should hurry up if we all wanna make it!" exclaimed Yosh so loud that he frightened the Toad girl that was walking behind his chair.

"Let's go then," said Peach, pushing her plate to the center of the table, looking at it with disgust, "This Waffle Kingdom's food is SO sweet! Too many calories!"

* * *

No longer having the trailer in their possession, the gang had to get to the Waffle Pit by taxi, splitting the gang in two groups of three and one of four.

The Waffle Pit was farther from what Peach expected. For the first half an hour she enjoyed looking at the city's skyscrapers from her window, but for the next twenty minutes Peach saw nothing but red sand, a burning sun, and an occasional Klepto flying by. She was starting to feel drowsy…

"It's twenty-five Waffle Coins," said the taxi driver to Peach, who was sitting in the seat next to him.

"What?" said Peach distractingly, looking at the enormous construction from the window over the taxi driver's shoulder. The Waffle Pit was huge, as big as a football stadium, shaped like a coliseum. Several yards away from it was a smaller squared building.

"Ma'am?" said the taxi driver, waving a hand before her face. The taxi driver's hand made Peach return back to earth (not literally, of course).

"Oh, yes, sorry…" she apologized, handing him the money hastily and exiting the taxi. She was the last to come out, as Vivian and Bow (who were in the taxi's backseat) were already outside, gazing at the colossal coliseum before them. Peach looked around; there was no sign of the other gang members.

"This place is huge!" Bow exclaimed, looking at the big drawing at the top of the enormous entrance, featuring a Koopatrol fighting a Chain Comp.

"I can just say… Wow!" said Vivian beside her.

* * *

After ten minutes, the two remaining taxis holding the rest of their gang members arrived, and all together were now able to check out the building beside the Waffle Pit. As soon as they entered, they were relieved to feel the cold breeze flowing inside, compared to the arid, hot air outside. They saw a counter at the far wall from where they were, a Clubba calmly reading the newspaper behind it.

"Let's go," uttered Mario as the gang followed behind him to the counter. The Clubba watched them over the newspaper as they approached the counter.

"Hi, and welcome to the Waffle Pit," he said boringly, "What can I do for you today?"

"We all want to register for the tournament," immediately said Yosh, stepping forward.

The Clubba had to bend over the edge of the counter to be able to see little Yosh, as he first didn't know from where the voice had come from. He hesitated for one second, looking at all the gang members, counting them.

"I'm sorry," he said in the same bored voice, "but we have only four spots available in the male category, and three in the female category."

"Oh…" exclaimed Peach disappointed.

"So, who's going to enter, then?" asked the Clubba.

"Um… give us a sec'" said Mario, turning away from him and looking at the gang members.

"I don't want to participate," said Toadette immediately, "I'm a nurse, though. I would be more helpful by taking care of the people who do get in."

"I don't want to participate either," said Goombella, "Battles are not my thing; I rather investigate during the tournament, to look out for suspicious things or behaviors."

"So that leaves you, Vivian and Bow," Mario told Peach, "Do you want to participate?"

"Of course I do!" exclaimed Peach, fist in hand.

"Okay then," said Mario, "Now for the final decision, one of us guys won't be participating, and we need to decide who."

There was an awkward moment of silence, where none of the guys said a thing. It seemed that all of them wanted to participate. The tense moment continued for what Luigi thought was a full minute, until Parakarry decided to speak.

"Okay, if none of you guys want to quit, then I guess I will," he said, determined, "Plus entering the tournament would put my head's injury at risk."

"It's settled then!" said Yosh excited, heading over to the counter again. "The names are Yosh Gonzales, Mario Mario, Luigi Mario, and Kooper Klast for the male category, and Peach Toadstool, Bow Ghest, and Vivian um… Vivian, what's your last name?"

"It's Shader," answered Vivian, embarrassed that Yosh didn't know her last name.

"Peach Toadstool, Bow Guest, and Vivian Shader for the female category," finally said Yosh to the Clubba, who was registering their names in the computer.

"Now, for the final step, I need to take all you a picture," said the Clubba, pointing a wall where the background was red (compared to the emerald green color of the rest) and a camera was positioned three yards away from it, "Please all of you who are participating go there…"

It took five minutes to the Clubba to take the pictures, wasting a whole minute with Peach, who pleaded him to take her another shot, as she was sure she had posed horribly in the one before. The Clubba returned back to his seat behind the counter afterwards.

"Because registrations are now closed, and the tournament board is now finished, I can now display the whole thing on the screen," he said, pointing the seven feet tall plasma screen located on the wall opposite to the camera, "Just give me a sec…"

The gang walked to the big screen as it suddenly displayed the tournament board. Two pyramids represented the female and male categories respectively. At the bottom of the screen was displayed all of the contestants photos, indicating who was going against who in the first round, as well as showing them their possible adversaries in future rounds by the means of connecting lines. At the top of each category only two lines reached the very top, representing the two finalists.

"I'm going against an Amazy Dayzee in the first round!" exclaimed Peach, looking at the photo of an Amazy Dayzee beside her photo at the pyramid's bottom.

"I thought they hated to fight," said Goombella, frowning, "But hey, they may be weird and all but they are not that strong."

"My first opponent is Larry Koopa!" gulped Luigi.

"And mine is…" said Mario, looking at the photo next to his for ten full seconds. "It can't be…" he muttered.

"Oh yes, Gonzales, it's me!" roared a familiar voice behind him, "PREPARE YOURSELF TO FEEL THE RAAAAWK!"

**End of chapter. In the next chapter the Waffle Pit's Tournament starts. Can you guess who will win? Will any of Mario's party members win, in first place? Stay tuned to find out ;). Seeya! Thanks for reading.**


	14. Waffle Pit: Feel the Rawk!

**In this chapter the Waffle Pit Tournament first rounds start! Thanks for reading ;).**

Chapter 14: Waffle Pit- Feel the Rawk!

"Rawk Hawk?!" exclaimed Goombella, turning away from the big screen to see the big, corpulent yellow eagle standing behind Mario, "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I'm here to bring the Waffle Trophy home, babe!" exclaimed Rawk Hawk triumphantly, this time looking at Mario, "You better not show up, so I can save you the humiliation of beating you!"

"Gonzales has beaten you plenty of times before, you chicken!" retorted Yosh, who was half the size of Rawk Hawk's corpulent figure, "This time things won't be any different!"

"And you are also participating in the tournament, little chump?" asked Rawk Hawk, bending over his knees so his face was leveled with Yosh's.

"You bet I am!" exclaimed Yosh, stepping forward, "And you better pray that you'll not be facing me in the tournament, or you'll be sorry!"

"Whatever you say, chump," said Rawk Hawk boringly, standing at full height again, "But don't spit on my face."

Yosh was about to charge against Rawk Hawk as he exited the building, but was stopped by Kooper and Mario, each grabbing one of his arms and holding him back. A minute after Rawk Hawk's departure, the relaxed environment came back to the gang.

"I'll be sure to inform you with detail about your opponents," promised Goombella to the participating gang members, "Is the least I can do."

"Aw, thank you so much, Goombella!" thanked Peach as they were making their way to the exit door.

"Wait!" yelled the Clubba to the gang as Luigi was about to open the door, "Just to remind you, the tournament officially starts tomorrow. The official schedule of the matches will be updated tonight in the tournament's official webpage. That's all."

"We didn't even ask him the webpage direction," Parakarry pointed out as they exited the building and were roughly welcomed with the strong sunrays.

"There exists something called Google," Goombella joked as they were making their way back to the road.

"What are those?" asked Peach, looking at several oval-shaped buildings that were beside the Waffle Pit on the opposite side of the avenue, "I didn't see them when we arrived."

"They are other battle arenas," uttered Vivian, "Or at least I think."

"I think Vivian is probably right," said Goombella, looking at the buildings too, "If all matches were to be held in the main arena, it would take them months to finish the tournament!"

"Um… I have one question," said Parakarry once they were on the edge of the road, "How the hell are we going to get back to the city? I don't think empty taxis pass here".

"Oh, crap!" exclaimed Yosh, "You're so right!"

"I didn't even think of it…," said Peach regretful, "Oh, God, what we are going to do?!"

"We could walk," suggested Kooper, causing everyone to stare at him in disbelief, even Goombella.

"Damn, you have no sense of humor!" exclaimed Kooper.

"I guess we could wait here a few hours…" said Bow, "A taxi needs to pass by eventually."

"I heard you need a ride back to the city," said a voice behind the gang.

All of them turned immediately in the direction of the voice, surprised. A large and bulky mutated frog-man stood before them, and Mario and Peach knew that they had seen him before, or at least one of them.

"Wait… aren't you a Frogog?" asked Mario, stepping forward. He remembered the amphibian as one of the species Mario and Peach had to defeat when saving the Mushroom Kingdom from Exor.

"Why, yes…" answered the Frogog, looking confused as he had never seen Mario before in his life.

"Oh! You attempted to kill us!" suddenly exclaimed Peach, stepping also forward.

"I have never seen you before in my entire life…" spoke the Frogog truly, looking indignant by Peach's sudden accusation, "But you know what, I guess you want to walk home…"

And the Frogog started walking away from them, in the direction of the registration building. There was an awkward moment of silence, where none of the party members really knew what to say, as most of them didn't understand the situation that just happened before their eyes. They simply watched the Frogog walk away until he disappeared behind the doors of the registration building. Thankfully, Goombella decided to speak.

"That was kind of rude, Peach…" she uttered, looking at her.

"He tried to kill us when we were trying to save the Mushroom Kingdom!" shrieked Peach defensively.

"How do you know it was the same Frogog?" asked Yosh with an eyebrow raised, thinking that Peach's point was plain stupid, "There are millions of Frogogs spread through the world!"

"I think Yosh is right, Peach…" supported Mario, but looking at Peach pleadingly, "Plus the guy looked at us like he had never seen us before."

"Well, yes, that could probably be true…" recognized Peach finally, "But I already screw up."

"Leave it to me," articulated Vivian, half-confident, "I'll try to convince the guy…"

"Oh! You will!?" exclaimed Peach, looking at her amazed, "Thank you so much, Vivian!"

"I hope she succeeds," whispered Kooper to Parakarry as he watched Vivian walking err, sliding away in the direction of the building, "She's our only hope…"

After a few minutes of waiting, the gang finally saw Vivian coming out through the doors, talking with the Frogog by her side, looking triumphant. Most of the gang members sighed in relief, and they made their way toward them.

"You still need the ride?" the Frogog asked to the gang, smiling at them.

"Yes, please, man!" pleaded Yosh.

"I'm really sorry for the way I acted a while ago," uttered Peach ashamed, not looking at him directly, "I guess I judged you without first knowing you."

"Nah, don't worry," he comforted, "I guess most of the Frogogs turned bad when Smithy invaded the Mushroom Kingdom. Your reaction was kind of natural."

"You weren't there when the invasion happened?" asked Luigi to the Frogog.

"No, I was away at a brawling tournament," he answered.

"Brawling tournament?" repeated Yosh, whose face suddenly brightened, "You are a professional fighter?"

"Why, yes I am," he said modestly, "I have to do something for a living."

"Wow, cool!" responded Yosh, "I'm a professional fighter too!"

"That's awesome!" exclaimed the Frogog, "I have never faced you before in the ring, though. I'll be looking forward to it.

"By the way, I'm Ampher Frogog," he presented himself, shaking hands with all of the party members as they were making their way to the back of the registration building. Three vehicles were parked there, enjoying the shadow cast by the registration building. The largest one seemed to be a blue mini-van, and, judging the direction Ampher was guiding them, it belonged to him.

"I'm really sorry, again," apologized Peach for the fifth time to Ampher as the gang climbed inside his mini-van after he opened the door for them.

"Don't worry, really," comforted Ampher as he closed all the mini-van's doors.

The trip back to Muffin City was enjoyable for the gang, as they were happily chatting with their savior. During their trajectory back to civilization, they found out that Ampher was in the 10th position in the PBR (Professional Brawlers Ranking), and that he had won one Big One in his life. The Big Ones were the four most important brawling tournaments during the year, the Waffle Pit being one of them. They liked him so much that Peach invited him for dinner at the most expensive restaurant in Muffin City: The Three Sugar Cubes. Having now eleven members, they had to ask the waitress to join four tables.

"I can't believe all of you guys are entering the tournament," said Ampher in disbelief as he attacked the apple tart in front of him with his fork, "I didn't know fighters traveled in packs."

"Well, this is a special occasion," said Kooper, who was sitting next to him.

"How so?" Ampher asked curiously, looking at him.

"Well, we didn't enter the tournament for pleasure or business," responded Kooper.

"Then why you entered?" questioned Ampher, looking completely clueless.

Kooper glanced at Peach, who seemed to be in a good humor. Maybe it was the high content of sugar found in their foods what made her this happy. For whatever reason, he didn't want to spoil her night, so he answered Ampher's question in a low whisper.

"Peach's steward was kidnapped," he told him. Ampher was about to say something, but Kooper quickly continued, "The kidnapper want us to have the Waffle Trophy, if we want him back."

"Oh! That's awful!" exclaimed Ampher, glancing at Peach with sorrow in his eyes, "You know, if I win the tournament, I'll give you the Waffle Trophy."

"Oh, no, no, don't need to do that," said Kooper quickly, regretting he had told him about the kidnap.

"No, I'm serious," stated Ampher, who really looked serious, "What I only care about is winning points for the PBR, the prize money, and the pleasure of winning; I don't need the Waffle Trophy at all. You can have it."

"Oh, well, thanks…" Kooper managed to say in an ashamed tone, not looking at him in the eyes.

* * *

"Guys, come here!" Goombella called out, looking excitedly at her laptop. They were back at the hotel in the girls' room, all of them. Ampher had driven them back to the hotel after the expensive dinner, telling them that he was going straight to bed, as he needed to be well-rested for tomorrow's match. Everyone walked hurriedly behind Goombella, looking at her laptop too.

"The schedule of play is up!" she said, stepping aside so that the gang members participating could see the large list of the matches that would be taking place tomorrow, titled "Schedule of Play: Day 1". Everyone seemed to be looking for their names in each of the different arenas.

"Oh, man, I found myself!" said Yosh excitedly, his face suddenly turning dispirited, "Damn, I'll be playing in the Battle Arena number eight…" he added disappointed, reading his name for the second time:

Battle Arena 8-

Starting at 2 p.m.:

Y. Gonzales (32) vs. K. Guy

P. Toadstool vs. A. Dayzee

D. Puff vs. Dooplis (28)

P. Plant vs. B. Ghest

"Oh, me too…" uttered Peach indignant, looking at her name in the list, "I'll be playing after your match is finished, Yosh."

"I'll be playing there too!" said Bow, far from looking disappointed, "Hey, Yosh, what's with the number thirty-two beside your name?"

"Indicates the PBR ranking of the player," said Yosh ashamed, looking at the small number beside his number, "I swear I was in a better spot a month ago!"

"Wow, so you're the 32nd best player in the world?" asked Peach, surprised, "That's great!"

"I barely made it into the seeded fighters," said Yosh truthfully, "the 32nd is the last one."

"Meh, I'll be playing in the Battle Arena number 14…" uttered Kooper, finally finding his name in the long list:

Battle Arena 14-

Starting at 2 p.m.:

D. Wizzerd vs. M. Megaleg

D. Boo vs. D. Bones

K. Klast vs. L. Mouser

I. Cleft vs. M. Koopa (25)

"Aw, don't worry," comforted Goombella, kissing him in the cheek, "I'm sure next time you'll be fighting in a better arena."

"I swear I'll vomit anytime soon…" uttered Yosh in disgust, mimicking throwing up in the laptop as Kooper kissed Goombella.

"Goombella, I don't find my name in the list…" said Mario, giving up on the list after reading it for the sixth time.

"Yea, me neither," hurried Luigi to say.

"Oh, well, that's maybe because you'll be playing in day 2," she said, returning back to her laptop, clicking on "Schedule of Play: Day 2". After a few seconds, the screen displayed a completely different list from the one before.

"Yes, I'll be playing in the main arena!" exclaimed Mario excitedly, punching the air.

"Me too!" said Luigi, not giving credit to his eyes.

Waffle Pit (Main Arena)-

Starting at 2 p.m.:

M. Koopatrol (2) vs. F. Lakitu

R. Hawk (6) vs. M. Mario

L. Mario vs. L. Koopa (23)

W. Cleft vs. R. Kamella (1)

"It looks like I'll be playing after you, bro," said Luigi, "How cool!"

"Fighting on the main arena comes with its disadvantages, though," Goombella told the twins, "The top-seeded brawlers fight there."

"But Larry Koopa doesn't seem to be THAT good…" Luigi comforted himself, looking at the twenty-three beside his opponent's name.

"Well, he had a knee surgery four months ago, and he was unable to fight for two months, hence why his PBR dropped," explained Goombella, "but he seems to be making a record-breaking recovery back to the top, so you should watch out, Luigi."

"Do you have any advice for me?" asked Mario, looking hopefully at her.

"Well, Rawk Hawk is the 6th seed in the tournament, as you already saw," Goombella told him, "His best performance in this tournament was reaching semifinals in 2005.

"This is also the only Big One he hasn't managed to win yet," she added.

"Oh…" was the only thing Mario could utter.

"Thanks god we're not facing a seeded player in our first round!" cheered Peach while she gave Bow a high-five.

"Have you found your name on the list already, Vivian?" Luigi asked her.

"Yes," she said with a neutral voice, "I'll be playing in the battle arena number one against the sixth seed."

Battle Arena 1-

Starting at 2 p.m.:

T. AntiGuy (4) vs. C. Croco

S. Lumbler vs. M. Grubba (7)

V. Shader vs. T. Chukya (6)

E. Cackletta (4) vs. F. Birdo

"That's good," cheered Goombella, "That arena is the biggest one after the main arena."

"Wait… Cackletta?!" shrieked Peach looking at the list, "That wicked witch is in the tournament too?!"

"And she's the fourth seed in women!" exclaimed Mario, surprised.

"Who the hell is Cackletta, anyway?" asked Yosh confused.

"An evil witch we thought was dead, until now," uttered Luigi, as surprised as Mario and Peach.

"Okay…" said Yosh with an eyebrow raised.

"Well, I'll be sleeping now," said Kooper, yawning heavily, "See you guys tomorrow!"

After shaking hands with the gang members (and giving Goombella a half-minute kiss) Kooper exited through the door, returning back to the guy's hotel room. He was quickly followed by Mario and Luigi. Yosh stayed a bit longer, though, as he researched information about his opponent with the help of Goombella until 1 a.m.

"I don't know why you worry so much," said Goombella to Yosh, cloaked in semidarkness, the only source of light coming from the laptop's screen. The rest of the girls were already sleeping heavily. "He isn't even seeded; he should be a piece of cake."

"I like to anticipate," said Yosh proudly, "I know about this stuff, remember. I'm the professional player here."

"Yea, whatever," said Goombella rolling her eyes, "But you should go to sleep, or you won't have energy left tomorrow. You have the opening match on the arena, so yours is the earliest."

"Yea, you're probably right," said Yosh, standing from Goombella's bed, "Thank you so much, Goombella. See you in the morning."

"Bye!" whispered Goombella as she saw Yosh walking as quietly as possible to the door.

* * *

"I knew you would do great!" cheered Goombella to Yosh as they were making their way to the stands on the battle arena Yosh had just won. The match was fast and cruel; the thirty-two seed managed to defeat Knife Guy in less than twenty minutes. After they sat on the third row, they saw the stands slowly getting crowded again. Peach's match against the Amazy Dayzee would start in a few minutes.

"Peach must be dying of nervousness!" Goombella commented to him.

"I still don't imagine Princess Peach in a battle arena," said Yosh truthfully, "This is just not her kind of place…"

"Well, let's just hope she doesn't get too hurt," said Goombella.

"Where are Gonzales and Luigi?" Yosh suddenly asked, noticing their absence, "I thought they would be here to support her."

"They are training, or so I was told," said Goombella, "No surprise there."

"I'm sure they'll do alright tomorrow," assured Yosh, "Both of them are really good at fight."

"Yes, they are," admitted Goombella, "But their matches against seeded players will be hard."

"And where's Toadette?" asked Yosh randomly again, noticing her absence too.

"Here I am," said a voice to his side. Yosh turned his head in the direction of the voice to see Toadette sitting next to him, carrying a bag of popcorn in her hands, "Just went to buy something to entertain ourselves while we watch."

"Cool! They look yummy…" said Yosh before grabbing a handful of popcorns.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" suddenly said a strong and energetic voice from the inside of the arena. Yosh saw that a Toad holding a microphone was sitting on a high chair at the edge on the arena. "Give a warm welcome to the courageous flower straight from Flower Fields, making her fourth appearance here in the Waffle Pit Tournament, Amazy Dayzee!"

There was a small round of applause as Amazy Dayzee came out through the pair of doors found at one end of the arena. Goombella, Yosh and Toadette also applauded politely to the Amazy Dayzee, who was jumping happily to the center of the arena.

"Now, straight from the Mushroom Kingdom, making her first appearance ever in the brawling sport," continued the Toad, "Give a warm welcome to Princess Peach Toadstool!"

There was another round of applause, where Yosh, Toadette and Goombella applauded with all their might. The pair of doors found at the opposite end of the arena opened, and Princess Peach came out of them. This was a very different Peach, though. Instead of her usual long, pink dress she always wore, she was now wearing a small, comfortable skirt above knee level. Instead of her elegant heeled shoes (which were never seen, due to her long dress), she was wearing sport shoes that matched the skirt's color. Her hair was also combed in a pony tail, which was swinging from side to side as she made her way to the center of the arena. Yosh was able to see the courage and determination in her blue eyes as she stared at the Amazy Dayzee as her latest foe, who just kept smiling.

"At the count of three, the battle officially begins!" shouted the Toad through the microphone, "One, Two… BRAWLL!"

Amazy Dayzee took a long breath, as she was preparing herself to sing the calm lullaby that made anyone nearby fall into a deep slumber. Peach reacted quickly, though, as she dashed toward her opponent and hit her in the face with a well-aimed powerful kick. The Amazy Dayzee was sent flying backwards, her happy expression suddenly turning into a sad one. She hit the ground with a loud clash, but managed to stood back again in a few seconds.

"WOW!" exclaimed Yosh, expressing disbelief, "This isn't the Peach I know!"

"That kick was awesome!" Goombella cried, sitting on the edge of her seat, eager to see more.

The Amazy Dayzee's expression was now angry, and she made a Petal Blast attack toward Peach. Several golden leaves flew in Peach's direction like darts, but she was quick enough to evade them by lunging to her right. The Amazy Dayzee quickly performed another Petal Blast, so fast that Peach knew she wouldn't be able to evade. She placed her hands in front of her, with open palms. Before the golden leaves were able to touch her, she performed an Energy Shield, causing the Amazy Dayzee's attack to bounce off the shield and return back to their owner, at double speed. The Amazy Dayzee attempted to evade the counterattack, but she failed and the golden leaves slashed through her face resulting in severe cuts.

"Wow, that was such an incredible move from Peach's part!" shouted the commentator enthusiastically, "This girl knows how to brawl!"

"That was the same move she used when returning Axem Red's powerful attack!" exclaimed Goombella as she remembered their encounter with the Axem Rangers.

"You're right!" exclaimed Toadette.

"Well, I was among the fainted party members so I don't remember," uttered Yosh. The other two laughed.

"Looks like the battle is coming to an end!" exclaimed the commentator.

"And it is," whispered Peach, glancing at the tired Amazy Dayzee in front of her.

Placing her hands in front of her again, Peach was preparing her last launching attack. A white and pink light started glowing in her hands, and the poor Amazy Dayzee was too weak to attempt to escape it. Peach fired the powerful Peach Beam at her, and the attack didn't miss its target as it made a full impact on the Amazy Dayzee. There was a minor explosion, and smoke clouded the spectators' view. As visibility returned to the arena, the Amazy Dayzee could be seen lying on the ground, knocked out.

"We have a winner!" cried the commentator, still surprised by the powerful attack he had just saw, "Peach Toadstool advances to the second round!"

Applauses and whistles erupted in the entire arena, as the excited people cheered on Peach. The princess from the Mushroom Kingdom merely smiled as she waved gracefully and sent flying kisses to her crowd.

* * *

"Ten minutes!" kept saying Yosh excitedly to the gang as they were having dinner at an Italian restaurant, "She finished her in ten minutes!"

"Yosh, if you say that once more, I'll stick this fork in your eye," warned Bow, losing her patience.

"I would have liked to be there," said Luigi, regretting he missed the great match.

"I'm glad that all of us managed to advance to the second round," exclaimed Kooper happily.

"Vivian, Mario and I haven't fought yet," reminded Luigi.

"You made it into the main news of today in the tournament's webpage, Peach!" exclaimed Goombella excitedly as she passed her laptop to Peach.

Even though she was happily eating her pepperoni pizza, she pushed the dish aside in order to put the laptop in front of her. She was surprised to see a big picture of her, waving happily to the crowd.

_RISING STAR IN BATTLE ARENA NO. 8_

_Unseeded nineteen-year-old Peach Toadstool made a surprising triumph today as she knocked out her opponent, Amazy Dayzee (ranked forty-five in the PBR), in a mere ten minutes. Finishing her match with a devastating attack that shocked the crowd, Peach Toadstool earned her way to the second round of the Waffle Pit Tournament. Amazy Dayzee, despite being unseeded like her, had never been taken out of this tournament before first round in her entire career. "She was so quick and powerful" the defeated flower commented, "I didn't stand a chance." But how far will the heir of the Mushroom Kingdom's throne go? She will be facing eleventh seed, T. Auroros, on day 3, which is far more experienced than the princess. Will she succeed again?_

"Well, I hope that my new 'popularity' will help me fight in a better arena next time," she joked as the others laughed.

* * *

"Feeling nervous, bro?" Luigi asked his sibling as they were following the passage illuminated by torches.

"You have no idea," responded a shaking Mario.

"C'mon bro, you battle monsters all the time!" cheered Luigi.

"Yea, but not in front of thousands of people!" panicked Mario as the passage ended in two big doors.

"You'll do fine," assured Luigi patting him in the shoulder, "Well, I'm getting back to the locker room to prepare for my battle, good luck!"

"Thanks!" Mario heard himself shouting as Luigi was walking away through the corridor, the darkness quickly swallowing him.

Mario stared at the two big doors in front of him, wondering when they'll open. Even though the previous match had ended half an hour ago, the main arena needed some time to be filled, as there were thousands of seats around the coliseum. Suddenly, a noisy round of applause erupted in the Waffle Pit, making Mario jump in surprise. He could hear someone talking on a microphone, but he didn't understand what they were saying. The big doors in front of him started to open slowly, and a bright light blinded Mario for a few seconds. He knew it was time for his match to start and, mustering all the courage and confidence he had, he sprinted forward.

The stands were full, like completely full. Mario could only see blurry moving dots that cheered and screamed in the rows that supported thousands of people. Somewhere in those stands, his friends were cheering and rooting for him, including Princess Peach. He didn't want to disappoint her, so he promised himself to do his best to win this match. After it seemed like years, Mario finally made his way to the center of the colossal arena.

"And now, the plumber will be facing the sixth-seeded fighter, 2005 semifinalist, and winner of one of the Big Ones" exclaimed the commentator enthusiastically through the microphone, "Welcome the unbeatable eagle from Glitzville, Raaaawk Haaawk!"

Another round of loud clapping erupted in the arena, possibly louder than the first one. Rawk Hawk entered the arena, sprinting toward the center of it, punching his fists through the air, looking triumphant.

"You are about to feel the Raaaawk, Gonzales!" he threatened, pointing a clawed finger at him.

Rawk Hawk wasn't looking nervous at all in Mario's opinion. It looked like he was used to this kind of stuff, where he was the center of attention. The biggest crowd Mario had ever seen was the one in Glitz Pit, where the spectators didn't surpass the five hundred.

"At the count of three the battle starts!" shouted the commentator, "One, two, BRAWL!"

Rawk Hawk quickly dashed forward, at speeds Mario didn't know he was capable of. Mario was about to evade him when he caught Rawk Hawk's fist sinking in his stomach. Mario fell to the ground, holding his stomach in pain. There was an "Ohhhhh!!" among the crowd.

"Wow that was a swift punch from Rawk Hawk!" exclaimed the commentator, "Is Mario okay?"

"Haha! This will be a piece of cake!" exclaimed Rawk Hawk triumphantly.

"Like the poisoned one you gave me because you are a damn coward and cheater?" taunted Mario. Rawk Hawk's triumphant face suddenly turned angry.

"You will regret saying that, chump!" shouted Rawk Hawk as he sprinted toward him once more.

This time Mario reacted just in time, and did an above-average high jump into the air. Rawk Hawk's moving figure passed below him as he was in midair, and the momentum of his feet made him trip over. Mario didn't waste the opportunity and dashed toward the sixth seeded brawler as soon as his feet returned to the ground. He took out his trusted Hammer out of nowhere, and swung it behind his head before delivering a smashing blow to Rawk Hawk's head. Another round of applause erupted in the stands. Rawk Hawk quickly stood up back to his feet.

"There goes a successful hit from Mario!" shouted the commentator.

"You'll pay for that, brat!" he yelled at him. He pointed his left index finger up and jumped high into the air. He then spun twice in midair before diving into Mario, foot-first. Mario managed to place his hands in front of him before the attack, softening the impact. Rawk Hawk, now back on the ground, attempted another kick. Mario quickly created a Fireball in his hands and threw it with all his might to Rawk Hawk. The flaming ball impacted on Rawk Hawk's hiking shoe, which immediately set on fire. Rawk Hawk started jumping in panic, slamming his flaming shoe hard on the soft soil. A round of laughter erupted from the crowd.

"It looks like Rawk Hawk is having some problems with his foot…" said the commentator.

Mario took the opportunity to strike Rawk Hawk once more while he was distracted trying to dispel the fire, and he dashed forward. This time was Mario's punch that impacted Rawk Hawk's belly, making him fall to the ground.

"This is not over yet, Gonzales!" he yelled as he started spinning and spinning over his axis. He suddenly created a Whirlwind, which came dashing toward Mario. He was caught in the Whirlwind, waving his hands helplessly as he was lifted off the ground. The Whirlwind eventually released him, sending him flying several meters back. His body made a dull sound as he hit the ground.

"Ouch! That must have hurt!" cried the commentator.

"Let's finish this," said Rawk Hawk as he sprinted to the whining Mario on the floor. He lifted him above his head with both hands, and threw him with power back to the ground. Another "Ohhhhh!" erupted from the crowd as Mario's body remained on the floor.

"If Mario stays there for more than five seconds, he's out!" said the commentator, "One, two… well, ladies and gentlemen, he's back!"

Mario was back on his feet, looking weak but determined. He created another fireball, this time bigger than the previous one, and threw it to Rawk Hawk. But the eagle was able to evade it easily and once more attempted to carry Mario. The plumber quickly jumped out of Rawk Hawk's grasp and kicked him in the face.

"Nice kick!" exclaimed the commentator.

Mario felt weak on the inside. His bones hurt from all the impacts he had received that afternoon. But he was not giving up, and if he wanted to win he had to close the match quickly. Mario's thoughts vanished on the spot as Rawk Hawk punched him again on the stomach, making Mario fly away once more. The pain was terrible, but he was not giving up. This time he created two fireballs, one in each hand, and threw them at Rawk Hawk. The former semifinalist managed to evade one, but the other impacted his chest with great power.

"Oh! That was smart!" exclaimed the commentator.

Mario really wanted to end the fight, so he decided to use his most powerful weapon. Concentrating hard, he made a big no, ENORMOUS winged, red Koopa shell appear out nowhere. Mario quickly placed himself behind the gigantic shell and performed a Jump Kick, sending the big shell flying toward Rawk Hawk. The shell was so big that the eagle was unable to evade it, and he received the full impact. His Lazy Shell attack had worked: Rawk Hawk was lying still on the ground, knocked out. He had won.

"And we have a winnneeeer!" yelled the commentator excitedly. "The most famous plumber, Mario Mario, has defeated the mighty Rawk Hawk!"

The people in the stands were going crazy, stepping on the floor like maniacs and roaring. Mario was just glad that the fight was over, and he modestly raised a hand in acknowledgement of the crowd's noisy applause. He was advancing safely to the second round of the tournament.

**End of chapter. I'm not sure if the battle was too short; you tell me. Anyway I hope you liked it. Meh, I'm sad because Maria Sharapova was knocked out of Wimbledon today :( anyway, bye! ;)**


	15. Waffle Pit: Second Round!

Chapter 15: Waffle Pit- Second Round!

I'm still surprised everyone passed to the second round!" exclaimed Yosh excitedly as he passed Chuckola Cola bottles to the gang members. They were all celebrating their success in the girls' hotel room after Mario's, Vivian's and Luigi's triumphs. "I mean, me passing to the second round was obvious, but for you…"

"Yea right, Yosh," interrupted Goombella, frowning at him, "Then why Peach defeated her opponent in less time than you did?"

"She was lucky…" murmured Yosh so that Peach, who was checking Goombella's laptop, wouldn't hear him, crossing his arms, "But let's see how far everyone will go; sooner or later we'll start falling."

"Don't say that!" exclaimed Goombella indignantly.

"It's the truth!" said Yosh, "This tournament will get harder and harder as we advance, and remember there can only be one champion."

"Well, you're right," she admitted, "Let's just hope that one of us wins the tournament, or something bad might happen to Toadsworth."

"Mario and Luigi, you're the most popular news today!" cried Peach excitedly, waving a hand so that Mario and Luigi approached her.

Mario saw a picture divided in two by a white line through the middle: on the right side was Mario punching Rawk Hawk and on the left side was Luigi kicking Larry Koopa. He started to read:

_MARIO BROTHERS SHOCK THE AUDIENCE_

_While most of the seeded battlers managed to pass safely to the second round, two shocking defeats occurred today in the main arena, caused by the most famous twins in the Mushroom Kingdom. Though recognized worldwide for kicking monsters' asses, this pair of brothers has barely been on a brawling tournament before. Today, they proved that they can be a threat to experienced battlers. Mario Mario was able to defeat the 2005 semifinalist and sixth seed, Rawk Hawk, after one hour and twenty minutes of battle. "He was just lucky," said the 23-year-old eagle, "Gonzales is known for cheating." After we asked him why he said that, he admitted battling him before, where Mario won too, leading the series 2-0. The crowd consisting of eighth thousand spectators was far from disappointed when the plumber won, and applauded him enthusiastically, gaining himself some well-deserved fans. The situation was not different when Luigi Mario defeated twenty-third seed, Larry Koopa, shortly after his brother's encounter. Former world's number three was making a record-breaking advance back to the top after he was suspended from the battle arenas due to his knee surgery, but the powerful plumber stopped his tracks after one hour of battle, defeating him completely. Larry Koopa said that his knee was perfectly fine during the match and it didn't influence his lost. "There was no pain at all," he said to the press truthfully, "I was fairly beaten by a fierce competitor, that's all." Mario will be facing twentieth seed Mega Mole in his second round, while Luigi will be dealing with world's number seventeen Kevin Kong the day after tomorrow. So seeded players, beware of these two brothers._

"We made it, bro!" cheered Luigi as he high-fived with his brother.

"Not wanting to ruin the party," said Parakarry, "But you should go to sleep; round two starts tomorrow!"

"Parakarry's right!" exclaimed Peach, looking at Kooper, Bow and Yosh, "We have a match tomorrow!"

"Can you please check the schedule, Peach?" asked Yosh, walking closer to her.

"Sure," Peach said, immediately selecting the schedule of play in the laptop, "Yes! My match will take place in the main arena!"

Waffle Pit (Main Arena)-

Starting at 2 p.m.:

F. Grodus (4) vs. T. Leuko

L. Tanoomba vs. W. Koopa (5)

P. Toadstool vs. T. Auroros (11)

B. Reacher (8) vs. Y. Gonzales (32)

"Me too!" exclaimed Yosh excitedly, "Oh no… I'll be facing that creepy ghost… Wait… Grodus?!"

"What?!" exclaimed Peach, Mario, Vivian and Goombella in unison, all of them coming closer to Yosh.

"No way!" said Peach in disbelief.

"Well, technically he's not doing anything wrong…" realized Goombella, "He's just brawling, and that's not illegal."

"But I thought he was just a head now!" said Yosh truthfully, "I didn't even know he was one of the top brawlers!"

Goombella grabbed the laptop by herself out of Yosh's grasp, and clicked on "F. Grodus". The link redirected Goombella to Grodus' biography, where there was a photo of him.

"Well, he has a complete body now!" she said, watching Grodus' familiar head but also eyeing his new body with interest, "It looks like the X-Nauts reconstructed a body for him!"

"He still looks comical to me," said Yosh truthfully, causing the rest to laugh.

"You'll be brawling in Battle Arena 2," said Goombella to Kooper and Bow.

"Well, at least it sounds better than the previous arena…" comforted Kooper to himself.

Battle Arena 2-

Starting at 2 p.m.:

Dooplis (28) vs. K. Klast

M. Koopa (25) vs. D. Boo

M. Megaleg vs. (3) Biff Atlas

B. Ghest vs. F. Honeybee

"Excellent! ANOTHER unseeded player!" exclaimed Bow happily.

* * *

"C'mon, Kooper!" yelled Goombella at his boyfriend, who was making his way to the center of the arena, spectators applauding around him.

"It will be tricky to beat Dooplis…" said Mario beside her, "We know he's a total cheater."

"I just hope he doesn't get too hurt out there," said Goombella truthfully.

"…BRAWL!" cried the commentator.

Dooplis immediately did his Transform move, and an identical Kooper appeared where the doppelganger was a moment ago after the purple smoke dispelled.

"You'll get a taste of your own medicine, slick!" said Dooplis laughing maniacally, still having his own original voice.

"We'll see!" exclaimed Kooper at his identical twin.

Dooplis hid in his shell and spun at top speed at Kooper across the ground. Kooper jumped into the air in an attempt to step on Dooplis as he dashed below him but he failed; Dooplis managed to pass below his feet before Kooper returned to the ground. Kooper also did his Shell Toss and raced after the impostor. Dooplis was trying to escape away, with Kooper trailing behind him.

"Wow! I'm starting to get dizzy!" exclaimed the commentator following the two Koopas racing in circles around the battle arena with his eyes, "Will Kooper be able to catch Dooplis?"

Kooper upgraded his attack to a Power Shell, and his increased speed helped him reach Dooplis, hitting him from behind and making the disguised ghost fly away. Dooplis emerged from his shell, and stared at Kooper angrily. He did a Dizzy Shell attack, and this time Kooper wasn't able to evade it, and Dooplis impacted him directly. Kooper emerged from his shell, looking extremely dazed. He could only see blurry figures in front of him, and it was hard for him to maintain balance. He didn't have time to comprehend what was happening at his surroundings because a flaming hot shell impacted him in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

"Wow! Dooplis' Fire Shell was a success!" exclaimed the commentator, "Wait… or was it Kooper? Sorry, don't remember…"

"Giving up already, slick?" taunted the Duplighost, disappearing behind a purple cloud and reappearing in his original form.

"You wish!" said Kooper angrily, getting back to his feet and Shell Tossing at Dooplis again.

The agile ghost evaded his attack easily, but Kooper predicted this, so he immediately U-turned and attacked Dooplis with a Fire Shell, successfully hitting his target. The doppelganger fell to the ground.

"HAHA, Let's see how do deal with this, slick!" he said teasingly as he looked at something in particular among the crowd. Dooplis disappeared behind another cloud of purple gas, and he reappeared as… Goombella?!

"What?!" exclaimed Kooper confused, looking at the ghost disguised as his girlfriend "Goombella?!"

"Let's see if you dare attack your own girlfriend, HAHA," laughed Dooplis.

"Oh, that was cheap!" said Goombella indignantly to Mario, "And how the hell he knew Kooper was dating me?!"

"It looks like he previously researched information about his opponent," said Mario thoughtfully, "Dooplis isn't as stupid as he looks."

"You know that isn't me, Kooper!" Goombella shouted at him, standing from her seat, "Kick his ass!"

"Easy, Goombella," said Mario blushing, "People are staring…"

"Ouch!" exclaimed Dooplis indignantly, backing away from Kooper, "How dare you punch your girlfriend?!"

"You're NOT my girlfriend, freak!" said Kooper angrily, doing a Dizzy Shell attack, hitting Dooplis in his Goomba face.

Dooplis stood there, swinging back and forward, trying to maintain balance. Kooper knew that it was the time to finish this. He spun in his own place, charging a super-powerful Shell Slam attack. He then dashed at full speed at the dizzy ghost, sending him flying to the wall at the end of the arena.

"And we have a winner!" exclaimed the commentator enthusiastically, "Kooper Klast advances to the third round!"

Goombella immediately stood to her feet, applauding frantically along with the rest of the crowd. She smiled at his boyfriend, who punched the air in triumph.

* * *

"Oh, Jesus, I'm so nervous…" Peach murmured to herself as she pushed the doors open, a blinding light reaching her blue eyes.

Peach felt intimidated when she first saw the vast crowd in front of her. Some of them were clapping at her enthusiastically, others where applauding just for politeness, and some of the opponent's supporters were not clapping at all. She made her way to the center of the colossal arena, trotting at a mid pace. The big, yet beautiful, rainbow-colored bird was already waiting for her at the other side of the circle in the center.

"Are battlers ready?" said the commentator through the microphone, "At the count of three… one, two, BRAWL!!"

Auroros didn't hesitate for a second and soared high in the air, flying in circles around the princess, as if ready to attack her prey. Princess Peach merely stood there, watching carefully her flying opponent. The Auroros unexpectedly unleashed a Rainbow Beam from her beak directly at the Mushroom Kingdom's princess, who lunged to her right in a swift motion and evaded the attack sent at her. Peach immediately counter-attacked by sending flying stars from her open palms, and the tiny, but numerous bright constellations made their way quickly to the flying bird. Auroros managed to evade some of Peach's stars, but the number was so overwhelming that she was finally hit by them. Peach's Star Shower made the bird lost balance in midair, but the Auroros regained its position quickly in an almost graceful way.

"Look at that! Peach's attack worked!" exclaimed the commentator enthusiastically. The crowd was also applauding.

The angry Auroros dived at Peach dangerously, moving her wings closer to her body, successfully reducing friction as she dashed like a dart towards her. This time the princess didn't manage to react, and the bird's beak hit her directly in the stomach, sending her flying backwards.

"Ouch! That must have hurt!" exclaimed the commentator worryingly.

"Okay, I'm starting to get pissed off!" exclaimed Peach angrily as she lifted herself from the ground, her yelling being drowned by the crowd's noise.

The Auroros was flying in circles around her once more, spreading her wings gracefully. She did a Feather Darts attack, but she was unsuccessful as the princess easily evaded the flying feathers. Peach did once again her Star Shower attack, and the bird found herself in a difficult situation again. She was trying her best to evade the flying stars, and she decided to fly lower in order to evade them all. However, Peach foresaw this, and she slapped the bird's head strongly as she was flying near her, concentrated only on evading the stars and forgetting about Peach's existence for a second. The direct hit was successful, and the bird collapsed to the ground.

"Wow! Poor Auroros was hit in midair by Peach's mighty slap!" exclaimed the commentator.

The Auroros took some time before managing to lift herself up the ground, but this time she didn't fly, she only stood there in the ground, staring at Peach angrily. The princess returned the staring and prepared mentally to react to whatever the bird was about to do next. The rainbow bird sent another well-aimed Rainbow Beam at Peach, and the princess counter-attacked by sending a Peach Beam. Both beams collapsed in midair, causing a loud explosion. Earth particles clouded the view for both brawlers, and they were clueless about what to do next. As Auroros's sight slowly recovered, she was surprised to see that Peach wasn't in the spot she was before. She quickly turned in all directions to look for her, and she evidently found the princess charging another Peach Beam at her from behind. Auroros didn't have time to react, and the Peach Beam hit her entirely. The rainbow bird was sent flying backwards, and this time she didn't lift herself from the ground.

"We have a winner, ladies and gentlemen!" exclaimed the commentator happily as the crowd went crazy around him. The entire stadium was applauding to the grinning princess, who was sending kisses to the air in triumph and jumping out of joy.

* * *

"It's Kooper," said Goombella to Mario, holding the PDA in her hands. They were in the main arena among the crowd, watching Yosh's fight against the mighty ghost, Reacher. "Bow already finished her match."

"Did she win?" asked Mario, interested.

"Yea…" responded Goombella.

"Nice!" exclaimed Mario.

"It looks like Yosh is about to win too," said Goombella, watching Yosh invoking a Yoshi Herd.

The hoard of Yoshi ran at top speed at the gigantic and scary ghost, who was ready to receive the impact. The attack hit its target successfully, but the Reacher extended a long hand a grasped Yosh in it. The little dinosaur wiggled inside the Reacher's bony hand, trying to free himself out of his grasp. The big skeleton unexpectedly threw Yosh into the air with massive force, and while its target was high in the air above him, he used his Bone Boomerang attack. Yosh reacted just in time and did his Yoshi Punch on the flying bone, succeeding in returning it back to its owner with incredible force. The big skeleton crumbled to the ground into hundreds of pieces when he was hit by his own spinning bone.

"We have a winner!" cried the commentator excitedly.

"Great! All of them passed!" exclaimed Goombella, applauding along with the rest of the crowd, "Good luck with your battle tomorrow, Mario," she added, looking at the mustached plumber beside her.

* * *

"C'mon bro, you can do this!" cheered Mario to his brother, clapping his shoulder.

"Yea, I feel more relaxed today than I was the day before yesterday," said Luigi confidently.

"Then you'll do just fine," said Mario.

"Wait… I guess they are calling me," said Luigi, cupping his ear with his right hand to hear better, "Yes! They are! I need to get going."

"Just don't send this simian to the hospital, okay?" said Mario with a grin, "Good luck!"

"Thanks, bro!" shouted Luigi to his brother as he ran through the dark corridor leading to a smaller pair of doors than the one he crossed during the other match.

Luigi stepped decisively on the battle arena, feeling more confident than he was in the first round. The crowd looked considerably smaller, taking in count that the arena was several times smaller than the main one. This, however, helped Luigi control his nervousness even more.

"Now, give a warm welcome to seventeenth seed, Kevin Kong!" exclaimed the commentator.

The pair of doors that was on the opposite side of the arena from Luigi's opened, and a muscular, strong-looking ape entered the arena, supporting his body on both hands and feet as he trotted to the middle of the arena. Luigi thought he strongly resembled Donkey Kong, an ape friend of his. Considering the same last name, he inferred that they must be related somehow.

"On the count of three," said the commentator the well-known words to everyone, "One, two, BRAWL!"

Luigi dashed forward to the ape, and punched him with a fast-moving fist. However, Luigi's hand bounced of the hard-rock chest of the ape, and it seemed that he was more damaged than Kevin Kong. The simian immediately retaliated by punching Luigi with a fist of his own, which was the size of the plumber's head. The simian's hand hit Luigi in the chest and not in the head, luckily. Still, the punch was strong enough to made Luigi fell on his back.

"Wow, that punch must have hurt!" exclaimed the commentator.

Luigi quickly sent a Fireball flying towards the ape from his position on the ground as Kevin Kong attempted to crush him with his right foot. The Fireball impacted the foot, and the bulky ape started jumping on his left foot in pain, grabbing the other with his hand. With such skill others thought Luigi was incapable of possessing, he spun on the ground and kicked the simian's left foot sideways, making him collapse to the ground abruptly.

"That was sweet revenge!" shouted the commentator through the microphone, sounding excited.

"You'll regret doing that!" threatened the simian in a stupid voice to Luigi. He clapped both hands together, and with the same incredible force he punched the ground with both hands. The grate the impact caused moved at top speed in Luigi's direction. The plumber couldn't manage to evade the Earthquake, and he was severely hurt by it.

"WOW! I guess Kevin Kong will have to pay some fee for the destroyed arena's ground…" said the commentator worryingly.

Luigi was angry now. He took a comical hammer out of nowhere, and dashed towards his enemy. The plumber moved it behind his back and then swung it in the simians' direction. Kevin Kong merely stood there looking confident, as he thought the hammer wouldn't do any damage to him. He was wrong; Luigi's Squeaky Mallet impacted his body with considerable strength, causing him to fall on his back again.

"And there goes Luigi's powerful trademark hammer!" yelled the commentator excitedly.

"Kooper, look!" Goombella said suddenly to her boyfriend, pulling his sleeve to draw his attention, as he was deeply concentrated on Luigi's match. "Doesn't that hooded person looks like the one Vivian described?"

Kooper turned his head in the direction where Goombella was pointing at, and Kooper finally saw the hooded figure sitting three rows in front of them, their face hidden under the cape.

"You're so right!" he shouted, maybe a little bit louder than he would have wanted, as the hooded figure noticed the pair looking at them, and they immediately stood up from their seat and started running away.

"Nicely done, Kooper!" said Goombella angrily at her boyfriend, "Now they are escaping!"

"Hurry, we can catch them!" hurried Kooper, grabbing his jacket from his seat and running in the hooded figure's direction, Goombella following behind him.

"Ouch!" shrieked an old Koopa lady to Goombella, who had just stepped on her foot, "Watch your step, Miss!"

"I'm truly sorry!" exclaimed Goombella embarrassed, trying to make her way through the crowded rows, following his boyfriend who was running incredibly fast, "He's too fast for being a turtle…"

Goombella and Kooper followed the mysterious character to the exit of the arena, and, because they didn't have anywhere to hide now, they turned to face the pair. He uncovered his face by pulling the hood back, and a familiar Koopa was revealed.

"Zhat do you want 'rom me?!" said the angry-looking French Koopa, one of the very Koopas that were with them in the plane.

"Oh, it's you!" said Goombella embarrassed, remembering the turtle, "Why were you running away from us?!"

"Zhy where you zhasing me in figst place?!" exclaimed the scared French Koopa, looking at them as if they were crazy.

"I thought… We thought…." mumbled Goombella, truly embarrassed, "I'm sorry we made a mistake."

The French Koopa didn't respond to them, and he merely turned his back on them and walked away, back to the arena stands.

"_Pardonne-nous!_" exclaimed Goombella ashamed once again to the Koopa that was now making his way through the crowded rows.

"How do you know our captor isn't him?" questioned Kooper, looking at Goombella.

"Oh, please," said Goombella, rolling her eyes, "I know a criminal when I see one; he's totally not one."

* * *

The gang was celebrating at the Three Sugar Cubes again. There were wins for Mario, Vivian and Luigi that afternoon, and everyone seemed so happy. Kooper and Goombella were still looked a bit gloomy after their embarrassing accident with the French Koopa, but they were laughing about it after they told the other gang members.

"Now all of us are officially into the third round!" exclaimed Yosh excitedly before drinking some of his smoothie.

"Yes, you are!" congratulated Toadette.

"Ugh, I can't believe we fight again tomorrow," said Peach, remembering that her next battle was indeed tomorrow, "Goombella, can you check the schedule, please?"

"Sure," said Goombella, standing from her seat and walking towards Peach, holding the laptop in her hands, "There you go."

Battle Arena 4-

Starting at 2 p.m.:

Starslap (31) vs. P. Toadstool

T. Snifit vs. A. Pink (15)

F. Crippo vs. B. Bros (9)

"Oh, I was removed from the main arena, so sad…" said Peach unhappily.

"It's almost impossible to be in the main arena twice in a row," comforted Goombella, "Anyway, Bow, your match will be in Battle Arena 3."

Bow came floating closer to Goombella and watched the long list over her head, looking for her name in it.

"Oh well, I'm progressing," she said, laughing to herself and waving her fan.

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Goombella suddenly.

"What?!" asked Peach, looking scared.

"Em, Kooper?" said Goombella timidly at her boyfriend, "You should come and look at this…"

Kooper immediately stood up from his seat and hurried to position himself beside his girlfriend, looking at what she was pointing in the laptop's screen.

Waffle Pit (Main Arena)-

Starting at 2 p.m.:

F. Jojora (5) vs. R. Swoopula (30)

M. Koopa (25) vs. B. Atlas (3)

K. Klast vs. A. Frogog (10)

"Yes! My match's on the main arena!" exclaimed Kooper excitedly, before noticing who was his next opponent, "Wait… I'll be fighting against Ampher?!"

"Good luck, you'll need it," said a voice behind Kooper's back. He turned his head and saw that Ampher was in the table beside theirs with some friends, smiling at him.

**Thanks for reading. :).**


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